


Any Given Afternoon

by ConceptOfVan



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Chaos, Comedy, Coming of Age, Cozy, Episode Style, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Feel-good, Gen, High School, Idiots, Love Triangle, M/M, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, POV Third Person, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, The Worst Love Triangle, They have the combined mental capacity of a jar of peanut butter, episodic, i guess, they're all idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2019-12-26 21:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConceptOfVan/pseuds/ConceptOfVan
Summary: Three friends try to stave off their boredom but find themselves taking on more than they can handle.Latest Episode: "Fun and Prophet"- In which the trio get accosted by a group of religious protestors.An episodic series.Updates Saturdays at 12PM EST





	1. Any Given Afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> I know the summary says this is a series about chaos but we're gonna start slow and make our way there as we establish our characters. This time, we talk about my least favorite trope that somehow still shows up in everything I write: love triangles. Particularly, the worst love triangle ever.

Winter’s bitter chill brushed over the Cornerstone Cafe, a bell ringing as the entrance door opened. Two entered the small building, a broad-shouldered boy and a skinny but tall girl, both in about three layers of coats and scarves. They did their best to brush off the small pile of snow that had gathered on them outside, but some still clung to them as they approached a booth near the windows. “I’ll get the drinks,” said the girl after taking off some of the excess clothing.

The girl hopped over to the counter where a boy in a green apron, the only person in the cafe aside from herself and the boy at the booth, was lost in thought while looking between a notebook and a worksheet. The girl beamed at him, “Percy, we’re here.” The boy, Percy, didn’t respond. “Percy?” He wrote something down on the worksheet. “That’s wrong, you know.” With a glint of joy in his eyes, Percy looked back to the notebook, only for the joy to be replaced with pure fear as the girl took the pencil from him.

Percy shrieked as he fell backwards, solely from the shock of the girl’s sudden appearance; the girl paid him no mind, however, and instead erased the answer off the paper and wrote something else on it. The boy at the booth looked over to the counter, but the girl waved him that everything was fine. “The answer was 34. You screwed up with saying ‘a’ was 65,” the girl said as Percy recovered and climbed back to the counter.

“Anna,” Percy cried, “I told you not to startle me. When did you even get here?”

“‘Bout a minute ago,” she looked at the paper, “Geography still giving you a hard time?”

“That’s not even what it’s called,” he groaned and rubbed his head where it hit the floor, “Nevermind. The usual, right?”

“Hot chocolate for both of us, actually, it’s freezing out there. And a side order of...” she trailed off and unfolded a piece of paper she had in her pocket, “Helping with some writing.”

Percy looked over the paper; it was torn from a notebook and baren aside from ‘To my love...’ at the top and ‘From your secret admirer’ at the bottom. “Aw, a love letter, that’s sweet!”

“Wess thought it was stupid.”

“Wess thinks a lot of things are stupid, but that’s just who he is. Though, he’s still probably better to go to than me; he’s better than me at most things and we both know how my love life is going.” Percy looked toward his friend at the booth, and, after a few seconds of silent staring, Anna tapped him on the shoulder and he quickly snapped back to her with a small blush. “Thanks. That… That coulda been bad.” Anna gave a quick thumbs up and refolded the paper.

“Now you gotta help me with the letter,” she laughed a bit before rushing to her seat.

“Wait, who’s the letter for?” Percy almost shouted, but didn’t get a response. He sighed and turned to a book on the counter to try and remember how to make hot chocolate.

Wess didn’t look up from his phone as Anna sat down. “You’re trying this love letter ploy on him?” He could see her nodding from the corner of his eyes. “You know he’s gay, right?” She nodded again, though more begrudgingly this time. “So you realize that he won’t return the sentiment unless you’re secretly a boy too.”

“I have a plan,” she smiled devilishly and laughed a little from excitement, “First, I start dressing like a dude, then I start telling him I feel--”

Wess put his phone down and stared her down, she looked a bit scared. “Unless this plan ends with you getting a dick, then you’re just gonna make him, and me, hate you.”

“I know, I just really like him is all.” She sighed exaggeratedly and a smile crept back to her lips. “So, that’s why I gotta do what I gotta--” Wess glared at her and she turned sheepish. “I-- I’ll be in the bathroom.” She hurriedly got up and rushed to the restrooms as Percy walked to the booth with three mugs of chocolate.

“I made one for myself,” Percy smiled, shuffling into the booth, as Wess hit his head on the table. “Trouble with Anna again?” Wess groaned as he rose his head.

“She’s a giant moron who says the most ridiculous things but I like her and it sucks!”

“A lot of things suck when it comes to romance, believe me. She’s nice and passionate and dresses herself up cute. I can see why most guys would fall for her; not me though, because, y’know.” He took a drink from his mug and nearly dropped it, “Ah! Hot!”

Wess laughed, “Well, at least all you gotta do is find someone who wants to be entertained and you’re set.” Anna slid back into the booth. “That was quick.”

“The water in the toilet was frozen, I’ll just hold it.”

“I know the boys’ room is good, why not use that one,” offered Percy.

Anna looked away from Wess sheepishly, “Eh, it’s fine. Besides, super nice Wess guy here is nice enough to let me use his on the way back because he’s nice.”

“You said nice three times.”

Wess took a drink from his mug. “I think she wants me to let her use my bathroom.”

The three heard a door open.

“Man, kid, you were right,” the owner said as he walked in from the back, “Nobody’s coming out in this weather. Guess we’ll just close until Monday.” He turned to the three friends. “So, what’re you all doing this weekend? Got any big dates or anything?”

They all nervously looked away. “Nope.”


	2. Cell Phone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna needs to borrow a cell phone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This somehow tied for second at a short story contest at my university???

The bell above the entrance of Cornerstone Cafe rang as a tall-but-thin girl burst in, gasping for breath. She paused for a moment and looked around the building, past the broad-shouldered boy currently watching something on his phone, to a small boy in a green apron behind the cafe bar. Without much more than a second’s passing after seeing the latter, she leaped toward him, vaulting over the counter. “Percy!”

Percy backed up, nearly falling but catching onto the back wall as the girl landed centimeters away from him. “A-- Anna, what’s wrong?”

Anna took a breath deep enough to nearly inhale all the air in the room and, with that single breath, explained, “My parents think you guys are my study group and they wanted me to call them when I got here so I was planning on having you guys act like you’re studying over the phone to trick them but when I was walking down here I realized my phone was dead and I will be too if my parents try to come down here and realize you two aren’t a study group so I need to borrow your phone!” She took another, smaller, breath, though this was only to be able to cough.

Percy coughed as well, due to having an obscene amount of mouth-air now in his face. After letting some fresh air into his body, he looked up to find Anna having put on her puppy dog eyes, those being a pair of gag glasses she never left home without. The barista’s mouth quivered as he looked down to his phone, resting in peace on the counter behind him. “I-- I hate to say it, but Presto chewed through my charger and mine’s dead too. B-- But,” he started a half-drunken smile as he looked past Anna and to the broad-shouldered boy, “I’m sure Wess can help you. He can do anything.”

Anna laughed and raised her glasses above her head. “I’m not so sure about that. Actually, I can’t think of a time Wess has really helped us.”

Percy quickly opened his mouth and raised a hand to object, but found that no words could leave his mouth. It wasn’t that Wess didn’t help with much or was condescending and deadpan when he did, it was more of that everything Percy could think of involved Wess getting Anna away from him while being condescending and deadpan while he did.

“Uh, well,” Percy muttered, before suddenly perking up, “He’s the only one of us that can drive and he drives us everywhere.”

“‘Everywhere’ is just home, here, the strip mall two blocks down, and the movie theater three blocks down. Driving isn’t that useful in such a small town.”

Percy pouted. “Well, at least give him a chance!”

Anna laughed again, jumped back over the counter, and smiled back to her friend. “I never said I wasn’t going to. Actually, he usually gives me what I want, now that I think about it.”

Wess looked over his shoulder, turned off his phone, pulled out his earbuds, and put the phone down on the table as he saw Anna approach. “So what were you harassing Percy about?”

Anna skipped the rest of the distance and leaned herself onto the table to the point her upper-half was basically laying on it. “I just wanted to borrow his phone for a minute,” she giggled.

“And I’m guessing you want to borrow mine?” Anna grinned like a child and nodded like a madman, rapidly smashing her chin into the table. “Not gonna happen.”

Anna froze completely and, after a moment so long that Wess had to reach a hand out to make sure time itself hadn’t froze, climbed onto the table and crouched, as to make unavoidable eye contact and leer at him.

“P-- Please don’t do that!” Percy, eyes wide, called from across the cafe.

“Okay!” Anna whipped her head around and back into a smile before she tumbled backwards into the booth.

“You’re gonna break your neck one of these days,” Wess said.

“Not if I break yours first,” Anna smiled. “So what was that about you giving me your phone for a minute?”

“Not in a million years.”

Percy walked over with a rag and a bowl of soapy water. “You’re being weirdly defensive today, Wess. What’s going on?” He set the bowl on the table and dunked the rag in it.

“Nothing. I just know she’ll end up downloading ten viruses or something.”

“She just needs to call her parents.” Percy frowned as he started to wash the table. “Isn’t that right, Anna?”

However, the question was only met with silence, as Anna was busy doing her best to look like she was thinking, a hand to her chin as her head bopped left and right while she muttered something about ‘the ditzy ploy usually working’.

“See, she’s not even liste--” Wess raised his hand to point at Anna but accidentally sent his phone gliding across the now slippery table and right into Anna’s lap. Wess launched himself after the device but only made it about halfway across the table. “No, no, no!”

Anna’s bubble popped as the phone hit her. “Oh, thanks Wess. I knew I could depend on you,” she said as she picked it up. However, her happy smile was replaced with a grumpy frown as she slid her finger across the screen. “Oh darn, password.”

Wess sighed and straightened himself back up. “Well then, I guess this is my win.” He crossed his arms in victory and very quickly realized his shirt was now soaked. “Dammit,” he grumbled, “Perce, you mind drying the table?” Percy, however, was distracted by the now transparent white shirt Wess was wearing, and also what was underneath said shirt.

“I think Percy Express™ is closed for the day,” Anna smiled, tapping away on the phone she held. “By the way, what’s your phone’s password?”

“Oh, it’s just all ones. Why’d ya ask?” His eyes went wide. “Wait, wait, wait, no, no, no!”

Anna smiled and closed her eyes as she tapped away on the screen, now with actual intent.

“日野、” the phone suddenly squealed, “どうしてそんな変態者になれるの？”

Percy, shocked out of his reverie by the sudden noise, leaned over to see what was on the screen, what was causing Anna’s jaw to drop, and what was causing Wess to hide his face in his hands.

“あなたはとてもひどい兄弟であり先生です,” the phone continued. Actually, not exactly the phone, more of the pink-haired animated girl on it, currently stomping in the face of a mostly-normal looking boy with the hair of a lion who had a very bad hair day. And, thanks to the camera angle, anyone who cared to watch was treated to a view of the girl’s under-- Well, Percy turned his head away and covered his face in much the same way Wess was currently doing before he could make sure of what it was.

“G-- Give that back!” Wess tried to rip the phone from Anna, but she happily yanked it away. “For some reason that app does autoplay and my volume was up! Are you happy now?”

“W-- Was--,” Percy stuttered, “Was Wess watching porn?”

“Worse,” Anna furrowed her eyebrows and paused for effect, “Anime.”

“Is it okay to look?”

“It wasn’t that bad, man,” groaned Wess.

“And exactly how was that softcore cartoon abuse porn ‘not that bad’?” Anna crossed her arms and frowned.

“Um, uh, well,” Wess did his best to mimic one of Anna’s smiles, “Instead of me explaining that, how about I let you use my phone for whatever you want and we all agree to forget this ever happened?”

“We do that so much we barely have any memories together,” Percy frowned.

His face still beet red, Wess tried to go back to his indifferent pose of an arm resting on the table and his head resting on his hand. “Okay, how about we agree to stop agreeing to forget about stuff so often but also agree to forget about this?”

“ばか、ばか、ばか、” shouted the girl on screen again, now taking a bat to the boy’s head.

“Agreed,” said Anna and Percy in deadpan unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, Anna writes fanfiction.


	3. Courage in the Face of Minimal Adversity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn about proper fire etiquette and Percy's love affair with the floor.

A broad-shouldered boy’s phone rang as he walked down Williams Street and, after some shuffling through his jacket pockets and nearly dropping it into the snow beneath, he managed to answer it. “Hey Perce, I’m alm-- You’re overreacting. Take some deep breaths and close your eyes, I’ll be there in a minute.” The boy closed the call and took a moment to either sigh or groan, he wasn’t sure, before continuing down the street.

At the corner of Williams and Alms sat an inconspicuous coffee shop, the Cornerstone Cafe. Through the window of which, he could see a tall-but-thin girl holding a lighter to a pile of napkins while a small boy in a green apron tried to pull her hand away. “Oh god,” the boy muttered as he kicked up his step toward the entrance.

Above the clatter of the door and jingle of its bell, the broad-shouldered boy could hear the cry of, “Please stop!” A quick glance around the building showed that, while there were others inside, they were largely doing their best to ignore the two’s antics. Said antics were the boy desperately grabbing the pile of napkins away from the girl while she continued to pull more napkins from a container.

“Percy, Anna,” the two froze and looked at him, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Wess, thank goodness you’re here,” Percy rushed up to the larger boy and grabbed onto him, “Anna’s trying to set the building on fire!”

“Okay, but why?”

“It’s cold. I was just trying to start a campfire and warm the place up a little,” Anna smiled as she reached into her bag, “I even brought marshmallows!”

Wess took a moment to realize that, as Anna spoke and opened the marshmallow bag she had pulled out, a wisp of white evaporated from her mouth. Apparently in the rush, he’d yet to realize everyone in the building was still wearing a coat, that he hadn’t gotten any warmer when he entered the building, and that he'd actually gotten colder since he had arrived. Wess then turned to Percy. “So why’s it so cold in here?”

Percy’s desperately hopeful smile broke. “You’re siding with her?”

“It’s cold, man,” he slid in the booth seat opposite Anna, “Anything you can do to fix it?”

Percy’s gaze dropped to his twiddling thumbs. “The manager told me not to mess with the thermostat.”

“The campfire was a last resort,” Anna pointed a finger at Wess, “I kept trying to get him to change the temperature and he kept refusing! He left me with no other choice.”

“Judging by the marshmallows, you were already planning on starting a fire when you left your house today.”

Anna put her hands in the air. “You got me!”

A moment passed, filled with nothing but silence and cold air, before Wess realized someone was missing. He looked over to the bar, where Percy was currently trying to get water out of the faucet, though the stream had frozen into an icicle. “Percy!” Percy immediately ducked to the ground and out of sight. However, Wess quickly walked over and draped the cowering Percy in his shadow. “Dude, seriously?”

Cringing, Percy got himself back onto his feet. “It’s just-- I’ve been screwing up so much lately I’m on the verge of getting fired. I don’t want to upset the manager any more than I already have.”

“Whaddya do to upset the manager?”

“Mostly screwing up customer’s orders. There’s this one customer who I know is scamming us, but I’m too scared to do anything about it. He told me to use something from the bottom counters of the bar to defend myself with, but I don’t want to escalate things.” He sighed. “Even then, I sometimes just get distracted and miss some important stuff.”

“I’ll say,” Anna said, warming her hands by a napkin fire, “You guys are usually way more on the ball than this.”

Percy collapsed on himself as Wess pulled off his jacket, ran over to Anna, and quickly patted out the fire. “What the hell, Anna?”

“Yeah, I guess this one’s a bit too far, even for me.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a small notebook embroidered with stickers. After thumbing through, she found her list of ‘Banned Ideas’. “Let’s see. No animals, no theft, no guns (prop), no guns (real), no pillories, no jaywalking,” she pressed a pencil to the page and wrote her newest entry, “No fire.” Noticing Wess had left to walk back to the bar, she silently turned to the next page of ‘Considered Ideas’ and wrote ‘Fire Extinguisher’ between ‘Crossdressing?’’ and ‘Grand Theft’.

Wess peered over Percy, who was currently curled into the fetal position behind the Cafe’s bar. The barista seemed to fidget a bit as he did his best to imitate a ball that didn’t bounce and probably disappointed a child who was into basketball but not soccer. “Perce, you doing okay?” Ball Boy did not respond so Wess walked around the bar and kicked him, like a child trying soccer as to not disappoint their parents but just didn’t have their heart in it.

“Ow!” Percy slowly rose, clutching his ribcage as he did. “What was that for?”

“I would have poured some water on you but the faucet’s frozen.”

“You didn’t have to kick me, though! You could have picked me up, or poked me, or pat my head, or-- Anna!”

Wess turned on his heel to find Anna taking long, exaggerated, steps to the thermostat, trying to be sneaky while at the same time doing her best to make it obvious she was being sneaky.

“Wess said I wasn’t allowed to start fires,” Anna pouted, “What else am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know. Leave?”

Anna gasped and fell to her knees. She sniffled and put her hands to her head before breaking into a full sob. Tears streamed down her face as she rose to face Percy and choked out, “You-- You want me to leave? You-- You don’t like me?”

Stumbling back, Percy quickly slammed his eyes shut and used his hands to block his face, as if waiting for some form of impact. “No, no, no! I-- I didn’t mean it like that! I like you, you’re fine, you’re my friend!” He was then slammed to the ground by Anna, who had leaped over the counter and had tackled him into a tearful hug.

As Anna tried to nuzzle up with the obviously uncomfortable Percy, Wess frowned down on them. “Percy, she’s just using tear drops.”

Anna bounced to her feet and laughed, her eyes still watering, as she raised her hands once more, a small bottle of tear drops in one of them. “You got me again! You’re getting good at this.”

“You’re just getting predictable,” Wess smiled, then very quickly frowned, “That’s not encouragement.”

Percy rose a hand. “Can I stay down here? I don’t see the point in getting up if I’m gonna drop again in another two minutes.”

Wess grabbed Percy’s hand and yanked him upward. “Guys, we have to figure out this thermostat problem. No more screwing around.”

Anna frowned. “But that’s what I do best!”

“I know, but you have to stop it if you’re gonna get warmer.” He turned to Percy. “Perce, if you managed to kick that scam customer out, then we’d be able to change the temperature. Like, it would balance out, right?”

Percy looked to Wess’s side, only to find Anna nodding vigorously at him. He decided Wess’s sharp stare was the better option. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Think of it like this: You’re probably losing more money through the low temperature than the scammer. If we do this, you’ll basically be doubling the profits. So what does the scam customer look like?”

“Like that.” Percy pointed a finger at a girl with curly hair and sunglasses standing on the other side of the counter. Percy then fell to the ground. “I’m dead,” he squeaked out.

Wess glanced down at the wannabe corpse and sighed before turning to the girl, currently with clearly furrowed brows and a foot tapping so fast it would move dance instructors to tears. “So what’s your deal?”

“My ‘deal’ is this,” she slid over a nearly-empty coffee cup with the name ‘Draka’ written in marker on the side.

“You came to a cafe and ordered coffee. Shocking.”

“We also serve pastries.” Anna ducked under the bar and rose back up wearing a green apron similar to Percy’s and holding another in her hands. “Wear this.”

“No.” Wess returned his dull gaze to Draka. “So what’s wrong with it?”

“This is a frappe, I ordered a frappuccino.”

“Those are literally the same thing.” He paused as Anna put the top of the apron around his neck and began to tie it around his back. “Does that seriously usually work?”

“The waiters--”

“Baristas.”

“Whatever-- Here are either really stupid or have no spines. Sometimes both.”

“Well,” Anna grinned, “We’re only a little stupid and we definitely have spines.” She punched Wess in his back. “See?”

Wess hunched over onto the counter, his face red. “So just leave,” he choked out, his voice quickly inflating like a balloon, before turning to Anna, “Why do you hit so hard?”

“You know,” Draka said, grabbing her bag strap, “I could leave, or I could do this.” A knife suddenly bounced out of Draka’s bag. With a sharp, though completely unneeded turn around, the edgy girl caught the knife and pointed it at Wess. “Gimme all the money in the register or someone’s getting stabbed!”

Wess stepped back. “Th-- That’s a prop knife, right? Like one of yours, Anna. Right?”

Anna frowned and crossed her arms. “I don’t use prop knives, Wess. With those it’s all or nothing and I’m an ‘all’ kind of gal.”

Wess gritted his teeth, turned to Anna, and shouted, “Then do you mind grabbing one from your bag and getting this psycho away from me?”

“I would, but my bag’s all the way over on our seats,” she laughed, “Isn’t it funny how you’re always like, ‘don’t point knives at strangers’, but I can’t when you want me to?”

“Well then what the hell are we supposed to do? I don’t know how to operate a cash register!” He looked back at Draka. “Who the hell robs a cafe anyway?”

“I can bite her. Last person I bit still has the marks. Well, that’s because it was about an hour ago, but you get what I mean.”

“The knife has reach, though. It would reach you before your mouth reaches her.”

“Uh,” Anna looked around for a moment as Draka slowly brought her knife closer to Wess, “Oh, how about this?” Anna quickly brushed Draka’s hand aside and stepped over Percy as she grabbed the icicle hanging from the sink’s faucet, returned, and tossed it into Wess’s hands. “How about that?”

“I’m gonna do it,” Draka shouted, slowing the knife’s already snail-like approach, “I’m gonna actually do it!”

Wess glanced between Anna and the nearly-still knife. “Why are you giving it to me? Aren’t you supposed to be the knife expert?”

“Our parents know each other so we have an agreement,” Anna yawned, “I don’t tell her parents about her doing stuff like this and she doesn’t tell my parents about, well, y’know.”

With shaky hands, Wess rose the icicle in front of the knife. “You mean everything you do?”

“Yep,” Anna smiled. Draka’s jaw dropped.

Draka lowered her knife and stepped back. “He-- Hey, no need to go that far. Th-- this is just all in good fun, right?”

Wess and Anna looked to each other, let their eyes meet, and smiled before turning back to Draka. “Anna, this is the part where the action hero drops a cool pun, right? Gimme one.”

“Not so cool now, huh?” Anna crossed her arms.

Wess turned to his friend and frowned. “Seriously? That’s all you got?”

“Oh-- like-- you-- could-- do-- better.” Anna pokes Wess as she said each word.

“Uh, how about… The knife age is over, now it’s the ice age!”

“That’s not even a pun.”

“Whatever.” Wess raised his icicle a bit higher as Draka lowered her knife further.

With a sudden thrust of the icicle forward, though still a good foot from the would-be-robber, Draka cut herself a bit as she quickly shoved the knife back into her bag. Tripping over herself as she rushed for the door, Draka shouted, “Y-- You’re freaking crazy! I was just pulling a little joke! I-- I swear!” With that, she threw open the door and dashed down the street as the bell above the entrance rang.

Wess smiled. “Dang, what’s her deal? She break a leg sliding on ice or something? Whatcha think, Perce?” Wess looked down to where Percy was previously curled over to find he was standing once more. As well, Percy was now holding a pistol.

“What the hell?” Wess jumped back, nearly falling over Anna, who had only slightly leaned back. While Percy’s eyes were held open further than they probably should and his hand trembled as he trained the gun on where Draka once stood, he didn’t seem to actually register Wess’s surprise. In fact, aside from his hand, he didn’t seem to be moving at all. “L-- Let’s get that away from you, buddy.” Wess slowly pulled the gun out of Percy’s grip, though Percy’s stance didn’t change.

“I think he fainted.” Anna poked the poor boy.

“He-- He told me to use it in case of emergencies,” Percy managed to get out before he once more collapsed.

Wess carefully placed the gun in a small shelf in the bar. ”What kind of cafe manager lets a kid use a gun?”

“Well, let’s think back through the facts,” Anna put a hand to her chin, “He’s a white male wealthy enough to own a business in a rural small town.” She sighed. “It just doesn’t add up.”

The bell above the entrance rang again as Draka, gasping for breath, returned. “Where’s-- my-- second-- jacket?”

“Is it black and leather?” Draka nodded and Anna promptly took off both the green apron and the black and leather jacket she wore beneath it. “Sorry, I borrowed it from the coat rack after it started getting cold.” With a smile, she tossed it to Draka, who then burst out the cafe once more, tripped onto her face as she left, picked herself back up, and ran out of sight.

“It was warm in here earlier?”

“Yeah, actually way too warm,” Anna said, “I had to turn it down a bit when Percy wasn’t looking.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for weekly, 'cuz that's how often Any Given Afternoon now updates!
> 
> Next week, we learn 'human' is not a breed of dog.


	4. Roleplay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the gang try to help a friend with a dating app.
> 
> Key word being try.

The service bell on Cornerstone Cafe’s bar rang in a mad succession, a man in a business suit trying to signal a barista. Though there was a barista on duty, that being a small boy in a green apron, said barista was currently busy helping a broad-shouldered boy wrestle a fire extinguisher from a tall-but-thin girl.

“Anna,” the larger boy shouted, “I don’t even know what you’re planning with this, but knock it off!”

“Well it’s your fault in the first place, Wess,” the girl grunted, “You’re the one who said I couldn’t bring snow in the Cafe.”

“What does snow have to do with this,” the smaller boy squeaked before mumbling, “I’m so fired.”

The business suited man turned to the trio, stared, and continued ringing the bell. All he got in response, however, was the trio’s chorus of, “Make it yourself!”

Taking his grip away from the extinguisher’s nozzle and instead opening his palm to push Anna’s face away from the object found Wess victory. Unfortunately, the move ended with Anna falling to the ground from Wess’s push, Wess losing his balance and falling the opposite way, and the barista suddenly having the extinguisher shot into his grip knocked the metal canister into his head and him to the ground as well.

It took a few moments for the barista’s ears to stop ringing, but the first thing he heard when they did was, “Percy? I’m happy we stopped Anna too, but can you quit hugging that fire extinguisher and get off of me?” Percy took a moment to process the information, blinked, laid still for a moment more, and finally gasped and dropped the fire extinguisher as he launched upward. Unfortunately, the fire extinguisher slid out of his hands at just the right angle to land on Wess’s face with a solid  _ thunk _ before sliding off of him and rolling to Percy’s feet.

“Um, uh,” Percy staggered as he reached a hand out to Wess, “S-- Sorry.”

Wess groaned as he grabbed Percy with one hand and let his other rub his face. “Don’t worry about it. You usually have it worse off than I do.” He turned to the man in a business suit behind the counter, currently in the middle of a making a mocha-something. “Hey, can you get me an ice pack?” The man nodded and Wess looked back to his friend. “Anyway, Percy, Anna--” He paused and took a quick inventory of the people in front of him. One Percy, zero Anna. “Where’s Anna?”

“Uh, over there,” Percy pointed behind Wess. Sometime between the trio’s tussle and now, Anna had managed to slip into a booth seat opposite a girl who perfected the description of average and non-descript. “When did Prish get here?” The barista walked around the larger boy to join the girls, leaving him alone.

“Hey, what about my ice pack? I need to wait for that.” Wess received no response, sighed, and followed Percy. 

It was when he was about five feet away that Wess noticed something was wrong with the group. Percy was holding a phone that definitely was not his while Anna was guiding her finger into Prish’s wide-open mouth. Wess simply stared for a moment before taking a deep breath and approaching, sitting next to Prish and opposite Anna and Percy.

“It says ‘like a toothbrush’, but I think that would hurt,” Percy said as he read something from the phone.

“If you think that would hurt, I gotta know how fast do you brush your teeth,” Prish paused, “Wait, how fast is normal teeth brushing speed? Like, in miles per hour.”

“I...” Anna pulled her hand back for a moment and raised her finger upward, “I don’t know.” She pulled her hand back entirely. “Actually, I don’t really feel comfortable doing this with you.” She looked to Percy, drank a drunken look, and reached her finger out to him. “Do you mind swapping in for her?”

Percy shrank away from his pointing friend. “K-- Kind of-- but...”

Wess grimaced at the small boy with a look that shouted, “If she’s putting her finger in anyone’s mouth, it’s mine!” Meanwhile, Wess shouted, “If she’s putting her finger in anyone’s mouth, it’s mine!” The group stared at him with empty faces, as Wess coughed and continued, “What I mean is, Percy’s obviously uncomfortable with this and you don’t want to do it with Prish, so it makes the most sense for us to do it.” He opened his mouth, closed his eyes, and waited for a moment, Anna shrugging and extending her finger toward him with sagged movement, before his eyes suddenly flw open and his mouth closed, pened, closed, opened, and so forth in order to ask the question of, “Wait, what the hell are we doing?”

“* _ i take my finger & drag it across ur teeth, getting out the popcorn stuck in there, like toothbrush* _ ,” Percy read from the phone.

“Anna wanted to see what it was like,” Prish explained, taking back her phone and showing it to Wess.

On the phone was a string of messages, about fifteen of them in total, all receiving and none outgoing. Wess flicked the screen to find the lack of replying had gone on for awhile, more than he cared to scroll and find out.

“It’s a dating app,” Prish explained, “This dude I matched with keeps sending these weird movement texts or whatever-- I don’t know what to call them. I don’t know what it’s about, but I don’t like it.” She sighed. “The finger toothbrush is on of the less creepy ones, like there’s ‘* _ I yee your haw like a cowboy at sundown* _ ’. What the hell does that even mean?”

“Oh, he’s roleplaying,” Anna smiled as she looked at the phone in her hand, “Like Wess does.”

Wess’s face flushed. “Hey, I don’t roleplay! Why would you even think that?”

Anna slid her finger across the screen. “Because it’s the first thing that showed up on your phone when I opened it.” She turned the phone around to show the table, but it was quickly grabbed out of her hands by Wess, who had realized the phone wasn’t Prish’s and definitely wasn’t Anna’s. “By the way, you’ve gotta improve your writing. It was…” she paused to think of a way to put it lightly, “The worst thing I’ve ever read in my life.”

“What I gotta do is change my password,” Wess grumbled.

Percy raised his hand. “Why not just delete him or block him or whatever? Ignoring him doesn’t seem to be working.”

Prish groaned. “If I do that, I get a strike against my account.” She slammed a fist on the table, earning a jump from Percy. “It sucks! The thing is full of thirty-something perverts even though it’s supposed to be for teens! And reporting them gets you another strike so these pervs get to do whatever they want and it’s me who gets punished!” She sighed. "I don't deserve this. I'm a nice person, I specifically said so in my bio!"

“H-- Hang on,” Percy gasped, reached into his apron’s pocket for a small notebook, and quickly turned to the most recently written-in page, “My therapist told me that if I want to fix something, I have to strike it at the source. Maybe your bio is the source, what else did you put in it? Anything to attract these kinds of people?”

“‘I’m a nice person. I like dogs and TV.’ That’s all, really.”

“What the hell,” Anna shouted, “Even though you don't have any personality traits, it's still archaic! Was this made by the Chinese government or something?”

“Yes, actually.”

“See! It’s made by an oppressive regime!”

“It’s a dating app. She can just delete it,” Wess said.

“Oh no! Not if I have anything to say about it!!” Anna swiped the phone out of Prish’s hands and sent her fingers into a righteous fury before handing it back to Prish. “There!”

The three not-Annas quickly grouped together around the phone, which now had the outgoing message of, * _ b4 ur finger reaches my teeth, i silently whisper,* “this reminds me of my time in orlando” _

Percy gave a small gasp and smiled at Anna. “You’ve been to Orlando? Mom and I are going for Christmas! What are the boardwalks like?”

As Percy bounced in his seat, Anna put a hand on his head to lower him back to still. “I’ve never actually been there. I’m hooking the creep in by playing a character. Y’know, like Wess does.”

“I don’t roleplay!” The table rattled as Wess slammed his fists onto it.

“I was talking about the drama club.”

“* _ my finger reaches ur teeth ‘what happened in orlando’ i say 2 u my <3 _ *,” Prish read from her phone, which was quickly snatched up by Anna. The table watched in silence as the tall girl tapped away, a grin twisting onto her face as laughter was held prisoner behind her teeth. 

“She scares me sometimes,” Wess whispered.

Percy glanced between his two friends before settling on Wess. “Only sometimes?”

The phone thudded onto the table as Anna wiped sweat from her forehead. Once more, Percy, Wess, and Prish gathered around to read from the holy text of the chatlog. * _ i bite down on ur finger. as ur blood seeps from the wound and splashes on2 my tongue, i moan “oh, the taste of ur blood reminds me of it 2” _

Prish put a hand to her mouth, trying to hold back a gag, as Wess slid the phone away. “You’re not allowed to write any more of these.”

Anna leaned forward. “Why not? I’m trying to help and I think it’s working.”

Wess crossed his arms and looked at the girl he sat next to. “Look at Prish, it looks like she’s gonna throw up. She probably has heliophobia.”

“I’ve been friends with her longer than you have! I know she’s not afraid of blood, she’s just thinks biting your nails is gross and that reminded her of it! Also it’s hemophobia. She’s not a vampire!”

“Guys,” Percy said.

Wess furrowed his brow. “Oh and since when do you know the meaning of larger words?”

“Guys,” Percy interjected.

Anna pointed a finger at Wess. “Since my parents made me memorize the dictionary!”

“Guys!” Percy shoved the phone in front of their faces, “Anna never said what happened in Orlando so Prish made me do it!” The three looked at him in shock. His pouting mouth, his eyebrows furrowed, his fists clenched. Percy looked at the three and quickly loosened his features. “Uh, s-- sorry. I do not know what came over me.”

“Cute!” Anna quickly tackled him into a hug on the seat of the booth. “You’re so cute when you’re angry!”

“Cho-- king--” Percy gasped out as Anna rested her head on his neck.

“Anna,” Wess said as he pulled her up by her hair, “You’re seriously gonna hurt him one of these days.” He paused. “Actually that reminds me,” he turned to the bar to find the man in a business suit playing on his phone, “When am I getting that ice pack?” The man shrugged.

“Man, these customers keep getting worse and worse,” Anna frowned, “Yesterday one tried to rob us, and now this guy won’t even do Percy’s job.”

Percy’s eyes went wide as he tumbled forward, trying to scramble out of the booth. “Crud! I have to get back to work!” Percy’s momentum, however, was in the opposite direction. 

Smiling, Anna held him by the collar and pulled him back into the booth. “Not until we read that message.” All eyes were suddenly on the phone, except for Percy’s which were busy watching the man to make sure he didn’t mess with anything at the bar. 

_ “I can remember the taste, that iron-like liquid that seeped down my throat after I bit down on him just a little too hard. It was after a night of love and fiery passion. I still have the scars around my chest and I will treasure them long after my memories of that night fade, long after I am cold and dead in the grave. He was a sweet man, he knew what I wanted as a person, but he didn’t know what I needed for my job. _

_ He trusted me, and, like I was born to do, I betrayed him. Just like every other man. Just like every other job. Just like every other night. And, like every other night, once he was asleep, I reached into my discarded jacket’s pocket, took out the folded knife within, sang a small song, and slashed the poor bastard’s throat.” Before you realize it, the knife is already at yours. “So, I guess you know where this is going. If you manage to not piss your jeans you’ll still die, but I’d be impressed.” _

Wess, Anna, and Prish let their jaws hang open as they read though the message. “Percy, what the fuck,” Wess muttered.

“What’s wrong,” Percy asked, looking away from the group as he kept his watch on the man, “I know the threat is kinda rushed, but It’s standard assassin fare. Have you never read a spy book?”

“Judging by his roleplaying, he doesn’t read in general,” Anna said, gesturing to Wess’s phone, which was once more in her hands, “I mean, this is ridiculous. Getting your second transformation only three posts after getting your first? I don’t watch anime, but I do know that’s just bad pacing.”

“Give that back!” Wess flung himself across the table, though Anna held the phone up and away from his reach, blowing her tongue at him. However, something under his arm buzzed. He lifted himself up to find that he landed on Prish’s phone, and that the guy on the receiving end had already texted back. The four quickly leaned in to read.

_ “nife me up baby” _

Wess groaned. “Are you kidding me? He’s into it!”

Prish frowned and lowered her head, though it was soon pet by Anna who didn’t have long enough arms to pat her back. “Don’t worry, we can think of something else.”

The phone buzzed again. i _ f u wnt something else thats impressive look at this _ A picture then appeared beneath.

Percy quickly covered his eyes. “Ah! No, no, no!”

Anna glared at the phone. “Seriously?”

Wess frowned. “Well, that’s a penis.” He leaned in closer. “I think?”

Prish yawned. “I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it at some point, but I’m still pretty disappointed.” She sighed. “Gah, that’s it. I’m just gonna block and report the creep. I don’t care about my account standing anymore.” She took a hold of the phone, did some tapping, and set it down before turning to the rest of the group. “Thanks for the help anyways, gu--”

Percy cringed as he heard the sound of a mug hitting the ground. Turning to the sound’s source, the group found the man in a business suit, staring with gaped jaw at his phone. “Are you kidding me,” he shouted, “That’s the fourth girl to block me this week!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! If you like this, please consider checking out my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ConceptOfVan) for more updates and cute pictures of my assistant (dog).


	5. Small Town Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Please listen to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-2a8L7tttQ) while reading for maximum enjoyment.)

A small cafe’s entrance bell rang as a broad-shouldered boy slugged into the building, weary eyes glancing around the abandoned room. In one hand he held the door open, while he silently slid a lighter into his pocket with the other. He stood there for a few moments, dead in movement and thought, somewhere in the back of his mind expecting to be struck from behind. However, the only thing he felt was the cold wind of the winter’s snow brushing past him and into the cafe. After another moment, he let the door close behind him and fully entered the building.

There was silence where there was supposed to be shouting. There was nobody when there were supposed to be twobody. On one hand it was nice to have a moment’s peace in the usually chaotic cafe, but, on the other, it was awful to be alone. Well, the boy wasn’t exactly alone. He had his thoughts to keep him company.

The boy wished he wasn't alone.

With a small frown, the boy walked toward the center of the building, his footsteps echoing as he did. In the middle of the cafe, behind the window decal that read (from his perspective), _efaC enotsrenroC ot emocleW_ , was a booth. The red seats were slightly more cracked than any of their brethren, though the table had been cleaned notably recently. He wondered what could have caused that. He slid in, like a puzzle piece into place, and took a deep breath. Somewhere further into the cafe, a door opened.

“The boss really needs to hire more people,” came a squeaky voice, “I can’t be the only one on shift when there’s so many problems with the building.”

The boy looked past the booth and down a small corridor that housed a pair of bathrooms. A small boy in a green apron, currently doused in water and carrying a wrench, and a tall-but-thin girl doing her best to hold off a stream of giggles walked toward him.

“I dunno, it’s pretty funny watching you deal wi--” the girl glanced away from her half-size homeboy and toward the cafe proper before smiling and raising a hand, “Oh, hey Wess!”

The boy in the booth smiled and waved back. “Hey Anna, hey Percy. What’s going on?”

Anna strutted to the booth and sat opposite Wess, Percy glancing around the room with curiosity as he stationed himself at the head of the table. “Not much, Percy was just talking about his vacation while trying to fix the toilet.” As she slid into the booth, she noticed Percy’s confused search. “What is it boy? Is Little Timmy trapped in the well? Is someone smuggling drugs? Is Little Timmy smuggling drugs into the well?”

“No, no,” Percy muttered, half-listening, “Didn’t the bell ring three times?”

Wess yawned and looked out the window, “I just got here and didn’t see anyone. It might have just been one dude entering then leaving before then.”

Percy frowned as he looked to the door. “Maybe, but they could have waited a minute to see if I was in the back.” He shook his head, sending some water droplets flying onto the table, and turned to Wess. “Anyway, you want anything? Preferably something not made with water?”

“Eh, I’ll take a hot chocolate.” With Wess’s answer Percy turned to leave, but was grabbed by his apron’s back tie. “Hang up, man! It’s been a whole week that I’ve been stuck with Anna. You can make it after we catch up.”

Percy’s smile wavered. “Th-- That’s not exactly the nicest way to put it.”

“Yeah!” Anna pounded the table. “Besides, you were out with that girl who’s obsessed with plays for most of it; I bet that’s why you’re so late today too!”

Wess grimaced. “Aurora saw an opportunity to make me do extra practice sessions and she took it. Sorry I’m so late.” Anna glared at him. “What else do you want me to say?”

“A-- Anyways,” Percy took a seat next to Wess, “Orlando was nice.” He lost himself in a smile. “Even though we couldn’t swim and there weren’t actually any big boardwalks, momma and I still went on a few boat rides and got to go into some museums and aquariums.” He gasped and balled his hands as stars burst into his eyes. “Oh! And we went to a theme park! We couldn’t stay the whole day, but it was fun!”

“I guess it’s the simple things,” Anna said.

“Well, it sounds like a good time,” Wess added.

“Totally,” Percy shot his fists into the air in excitement, “I’m definitely making it my goal to move there.”

Wess raised an eyebrow. “Wait, move to Orlando?”

“Yeah,” Percy swooned, “There’s so much to do there that I bet there’d be new things to see even after being there for a few years. It’s like the exact opposite of this town. It reminds me of home, but bigger.”

Wess frowned. “You don’t think of this place as home?”

“Not really. This place is so…” He paused, “Claustrophobic? I mean, I know I’ve lived here for half my life at this point, but it just never really felt like home. You can explore the place in an afternoon and miss it completely if you blink. The only things going on here for me are Cornerstone, my magic shows at the hospital, and the pool in the summer.”

“And the arsonist,” Anna cheered.

Percy looked outside to the darkening sky. “It’s nice to see so many stars, especially after being in Orlando for a week, but I’m never not gonna be a city boy. This town was the only place momma and I could go when we needed to move, but small towns just aren’t for me.”

“You know, this place is so small I think it’s technically a village,” Anna laughed, “Though with your normal stress levels, I woulda thought you’d have a mental breakdown the second you set foot in a city.”

“Actually it’s kinda comforting having so much going on. There’s so many people, but you’re probably never gonna see a particular one again if you don’t want to. You’re constantly surrounded, but everyone is in their own little world. It’s like you always have someone around if you need help, but are still alone if you want to be. Here, if you do something wrong, everyone in town’s gonna know about it by tomorrow. You can’t escape anyone here. It’s not other people that stress me out, it’s really the unwanted attention, at least according to my therapist. She said I’m stressing myself out because if people figure out I’m gay I think they’ll lynch me. With some of the people here though, I know they will.” He sighed and hushed his voice. “She told me to come up with a dream to work to. I-- I think mine is to just drive. Just, get a really fast car, get on the open road, and just drive the heck away from here to somewhere I actually belong. No music, just the wind, myself, and--” he glanced up at Wess for the better part of a millisecond as his voice dropped to a whisper, “Maybe the person I love.”

“Awwwwwwww, that’s adorable!” Anna reached herself across the table to wrap Percy in a hug, though she was blocked by Wess who pushed her head back into her seat.

Percy scratched the back of his neck. “I know it sounds weird, but--”

“No, no, no,” Anna waved her hands in front of her, “I didn’t mean it like that! I just thought it’s nice to have a clear dream. The closest thing I have to one is getting my sister, getting out of this town, and getting the hell away from my parents.”

Wess’s jaw dropped while Percy raised a hand, “Uh, I hope this isn’t a sore point, but what’s going on between you and your parents? If you really need to get out of there, I’m sure momma wouldn’t mind letting you and Hollie stay with us for awhile.”

Anna smiled. “Thanks, but I don’t need anything like that, at least right now. It’s just, mom and dad are so strict they already have my whole life planned out. I’m supposed to study five hours a day, except on weekends when I study ten, graduate the top of the school, and go to college.”

“Well at least you can choose what to major in.”

“Yeah, as long as it’s something to do with Math or Science so I can get a job at their company,” she grumbled, “And I just know they’re gonna do the same to Hollie when she’s old enough. I’m fine with them trying to shape my life as long as they leave hers alone, but I know they won’t so I want us to just leave them in the dust.” She smiled at her friends. “If it weren’t for you guys, I’d have lost it a loooong time ago.”

There was something close to silence. Anna wore a hollow smile, Wess glared at nothing in particular, and Percy let out several “Um”s and “Uh”s as he struggled for something appropriate to say. Though, eventually, Anna was the one to break it.

She raised a hand forward, “Thanks for always being there, guys.” Percy returned the high-five while Wess seemed to be lost in his own little world.

“I’m just surprised you of all people don’t have a clear dream,” Percy said, “You’re always so creative with your gags, for awhile I thought you wanted to be a clown.” He shivered and grasped onto his wet apron. “I’d actually be down for a napkin fire right now, I really need to dry off.”

“Sorry, I don’t have a lighter,” Anna laughed.

“Me neither,” Wess scowled.

“Anyway, those are just for fun. If I did that for a job, it wouldn’t have the same meaning anymore.” She put a hand to her chin for a moment. “Though I guess I am interested in learning how to make music.”

Percy clasped his hands. “Oh, that’s so nice!”

“Now then, what about you two? Dream jobs, I mean.”

Percy beamed. “I don’t know, but I want it to be one where I make sad people happy. The charity shows aren’t exactly shows because they’re charity, but I’d like to do it for a living. I don’t know if my audience will always be kids in hospitals, but I know it’ll stay as people who need a smile.”

“And you, Wess?”

Wess was busy giving the window a glare harsh enough to melt it.

Percy put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Wess?”

“I don’t have one,” Wess spat.

“What?”

Wess spun back around to shoot daggers into Percy, who in turn jumped back almost far enough to fall out of the booth. “I said I don’t have one. I don’t need a dream. I already have everything I could want, so why ask for more?” He leaned back and looked between Percy and Anna. “I already have a good life, a good friend group, and my dad’s gonna make me a coworker at his contractor business after I’m done with high school. What else would I want?”

Anna studied Wess’s face, though doing her best to avoid his murderous gaze as she did. “You want to be a construction guy? I’ve never heard you talk about that before.”

“I never said I wanted to, I just said it’s what I’m gonna do after high school.”

Percy held onto the table as he asked, “What about Aurora? I know she depends on you as an actor. Why not go into show business with her when we graduate?”

“Because she’s not gonna make it. She’s just gonna end up a failure and get some job back here, back at her home,” Wess frowned at his friends, “You know, you two talk about ‘home’ and going somewhere else to find it, but that’s just because you moved here at some point. I’ve lived here my entire life; this is the only home I have and I know how this place works. When you two, when Aurora, when anyone else we know fails at reaching their dreams, then I’m gonna have to be here to give you a place to go.” He closed his eyes and crossed his arms. “This town’s a black hole. Once you’re in, you’re not getting out. I’ve seen it myself.”

“Oh come on,” Anna laughed, “You’re being ridiculous.”

“Okay then, what if everyone did succeed?” He slammed his fists on the table. “We’d never see each other again!”

“Again, you’re being ridiculous,” Anna reached across the table to put a hand on Wess’s shoulder, “Of course we’d see each other. It might not be everyday like we do now, but even if we did move to different places, we’d still have the internet and stuff. Trust me, when I make a friend,” she clenched Wess’s shoulder and opened her eyes wide, “I never let them go.”

“Y-- Yeah,” Percy tried to inject some enthusiasm into his nervous tone, “And I’m not gonna let thoughts of failure stop me, my therapist specifically told me not to let that happen. I’m gonna barge headfirst into the future.”

Anna gasped and frowned. “Oh yeah! You said the same thing earlier! Where’s that letter you were talking about?”

Wess flinched. “What letter?”

Anna grimaced and crossed her arms. “He wrote a letter to some dumb guy, even when he knows his cuteness should be shared with everyone!”

Percy gulped and choked out, “I-- It-- It’s for-- th-- the guy-- I-- I like..” He coughed and glanced around the table as he stuttered, some combination of fear and cold. “It-- It should be on-- on the--” He froze, from fear, not cold. “Wh-- Where’d it go?”

Wess raised an annoyed, though smug, hand, as if grasping the bottom of a wine glass. “See? Even the world thinks you’re going too fast.” He glanced out the window, to the slowly rising moon, to the flickering streetlights, and to the ashes of burnt paper that danced in the wind and past the window. “I just don’t see what’s wrong with keeping things the way they are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This week's episode is a bit different with some more drama and character development, though I still tried to insert some gags in where I could.
> 
> If you're enjoying so far, consider bookmarking the series to stay up-to-date or follow me on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/conceptofvan) for even more updates (and pictures of cute dogs)!
> 
> Next week, we meet a new semi-primary character. Cya then.


	6. Making a Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang have to deal with an unwanted visitor.

A one-note tone rang from the pocket of a broad-shouldered boy as he, a tall-but-thin girl, and a small boy with a spirit-quartz pendant around his neck walked down Williams Street. The three were wrapped up in a half-asleep discussion of whether or not it was feasible to use a pack of Border Collies to make a dog sled team. The small boy argued it would put too much strain on the dogs, the tall-but-thin girl still wanted to try to see if it was possible, and the broad-shouldered boy said it would be unneededly complicated for getting around such a small town. The discussion, however, was tabled as the broad-shouldered boy freed his phone into the winter’s dawn.

“It’s from Aurora,” he muttered, “It’s probably about rehearsal.” With a small swipe on the screen, he read aloud, “ _ Remember we have rehearsal today. Don’t even think about skipping. _ ”

“Wow,” the smaller boy said, “She’s really been hammering you hard recently. It’s not even seven.” He blinked and gasped. “Oh yeah. Thanks for keeping me company while I open up today, guys.”

“You’ve already thanked us ten times,” Wess said, dully.

The tall girl yawned but perked into a smile. “Too bad you got rehearsal, Wess. Guess it’s just gonna be me and Percy today, all day!”

“I’m only working until one,” Percy mumbled, slowing his step.

Wess cast a short and tired glance at his friend. “Calm down, Anna. I’m not going anywhere.”

Percy, who had found himself lagging behind, bounced up to the right of Wess. “But what about Aurora?” He twiddled his thumbs as his smile soured. “I-- I’ve only met her a few times, but she’s scary. I’m probably just overthinking things, though.”

“No, not scary,” Wess stated, his stern tone making it clear there was no room for debate. Percy smiled.  “She’s terrifying.” Percy’s smile dropped within the same breath it appeared as the trio reached the final building on the block. Behind a window slightly covered by a decal that read  _ Welcome to Cornerstone Cafe _ , a short-and-chubby girl sat, glaring out at them. “Though it’s not like she’s actually gonna show up at the cafe.” Wess stopped and frowned, turning to the girl who stared at him from inside. “Dammit.”

Anna and Percy turned around to find the two in a staring contest, though their glares had whittled down to looks of disappointment at the other. Percy gasped. “H-- How did she get in?”

“Can she see us,” Anna asked as she began to tap the glass, “Maybe she’s blind and got stuck in there overnight.”

“She’s not blind,” Wess said, his gaze dulling further, “She’s staring right at me.”

“Yeah, but she isn’t looking at me or Percy. She could just be smelling you.”

Wess broke his gaze and turned to Anna. “Are you saying I smell?”

Anna gave a guilty smile, looked to the ground, and kicked the snow beneath her feet. “Maaaaaaybe.” She suddenly stopped in place, a feeling of dread creeping over and enveloping her entire being as she began to shiver. “She’s staring at me, isn’t she?”

“Probably,” Wess shrugged.

“I guess she’s not blind, then,” Percy said.

“Why was that even a question in the first place?” Wess groaned and grabbed onto his friends, dragging them toward the building’s entrance. “Come on, we have to get this over with.” Anna resisted Wess’s touch while Percy found himself more than eager to be dragged along. Soon enough, the entrance bell rang behind them as Percy unlocked the door, admitted the trio in, and relocked it behind him.

“Took you idiots long enough,” the short-and-chubby girl said as the idiots bumbled in. She rose, opened up her purse, and pulled out a small stack of stapled paper. On the top of the stack was a page with the title  _ The Incredible Mr. Henderson  _ in bold and some other stuff written below. “The school finalized what we’re doing for the Spring play, I got one of my insiders to email me it last night. We gotta get rehearsing if we wanna snag the leads.” She shoved the paper into Wess’s hands. Reaching back into her purse, she pulled out another stack, though she kept hold of it. “Our first scene is on page three.”

Wess quickly flipped through the paper and began to read aloud, “I just don’t see why we need to wear these new ties, they’re such a bother to put on. It’s just one giant incon--” His reading was quickly interrupted by Anna grabbing him by his collar and pulling him aside.

“Team huddle,” Anna whispered as she mushed Wess’s, Percy’s, and her own head together. “Wess, you’re just gonna let her make you do this?”

“Do you honestly think I’ve got a choice?” Wess sighed, looking down on Anna’s naivete. Though the way they were positioned, Anna was the one looking down on Wess. “It’s best to just let her do this now so we can have free time later.”

“But if we do that, then she’ll think it’s okay to do this all the time! Then she’ll be taking up more of your da--” Anna froze and put her arm around Percy. “Wait, yeah, actually do that.”

“Well now I don’t want to. The play sounds boring anyway, who names a play  _ The Fantastic Mr. Henderson _ ?”

“The British, apparently.”

“I think I read an old book with a character named Mr. Henderson,” Percy said, “Maybe it’s based off that.”

“Guys, we’re getting sidetracked,” Anna said, “We gotta find a way to get Aurora outta here.”

“I thought you wanted me to go with her,” Wess said.

“I was joking around. Me and Percy don’t hang out enough though.”

“Because you keep nearly getting him fired.”

“That’s beside the point!”

Percy interrupted, “Wess, what do you know about Aurora that can get us out of here?”

“She’s obsessed with drama and rehearsal to the point that she regularly skips classes to do so.”

“Oh,” Anna smiled, “I think I might have met her before! One time, I got kicked out of Sex Ed for--”

Wess put a hand to her mouth. “Don’t finish that sentence.”

Anna glared at Wess, making sure her deadly glance made full eye contact, before pushing his hand away and returning to her usual dimwitted demeanor. “Anyway, I saw her walking around the halls talking to herself so I went to talk to her.”

Percy asked, “What did you talk about?” 

“Nothing much,” she grinned, “Though I did manage to convince her a pickle was an STD and a really bad swear word.”

Wess and Percy paused as Anna shook in place, reveling in the two’s disbelief. “H-- How?” Percy eventually asked.

Wess sighed. “Y’know, when she’s not rehearsing, she just locks herself in her room. She’s sheltered and 90% of what she eats in junk food. It’s not too surprising.”

“Yeah, but still! How do you go through life not knowing what it is!”

“Very easily apparently.”

“Both of you knock it off.” A pair of hands separated Percy and Wess’s increasingly headbutting heads. “Anyway, I don’t think we’re gonna be able to kick Aurora out,” Aurora said.

“Why not?”

“She’s too determined and we’re too stupid.”

Anna furrowed her brows in determination. “That may be true, but friendship can beat anything! Like in one of Wess’s animes.” She patted Aurora on the back as Wess groaned. “Isn’t that right, Percy?” There was a second of silence as Anna looked at Aurora. She blinked and innocently asked, “Percy, when’d you get into crossdressing?”

“I think he went to put on his work apron,” Aurora glared. She shoved herself away from the two and straightened herself back up, ringing the bell on the counter in order to get Percy’s mid-dressing attention as well. “Okay you two, Wess and I are gonna do some reading and rehearsal. Don’t even think about trying to interrupt us.” She pointed at Anna. “Got it?”

Anna shrugged. “Eh, whatever. I already know he can’t lie for the life of him, so acting’s probably impossible.”

“You’re right,” Aurora jabbed a finger in front of Anna, “But I’ve been working on him since we were kids! He has barely any skill and I know if it weren’t for me, he’d have no skills at all.”

Anna crossed her arms. “If you guys’ve known each other so long, then why do you never hang out? If it weren’t for me and Percy, he’d be sitting inside watching cartoon porn all day!”

Aurora frowned at the statement as Wess rushed between the two, shoving them apart. “Ladies, ladies! Stop fighting over me. It’s severely damaging my self esteem.” He sighed before turning to Anna and whispering. “I’m gonna see if I can get her to leave me alone after a readthrough of the script. That good?”

“Nope,” Aurora said.

Wess turned back around. “How the hell did you hear that?”

“I didn’t,” Aurora shrugged, “I’m just guessing you were trying to get out of rehearsal, like usual. You’re not getting out of this one.”

“Yes he is,” Percy shouted from behind the bar. Though, he immediately shrunk down as the others turned their attention to him. His voice became a small squeak and he poked his fingers together. “What I mean is-- You’re gonna disturb the cafe’s other patrons if you do that.” The group collectively blinked and glanced around the cafe, which was empty aside from them. “I mean when they get here.”

“What happened to your accent?”

Percy blinked. “What?”

“Didn’t you used to have a southern accent? Like, three or so years ago? You did a magic show at the same performance me and Wess did a skit. You had a southern accent.” She turned to Wess. “You’re terrible with your accents and you might need to do a British one for the role. Ask him for advice on changing your voice.”

Percy pouted his lip and furrowed his brow. “Ah don’ hava axeant!” Immediately, his hands were around his mouth as his pupils shrunk to dots.

Aurora gestured to the boy. “See? Like that.”

“Oh my gosh,” Anna gasped, pushing Wess and Aurora aside as she rushed to the counter, “Percy why didn’t you tell me you have an accent? I didn’t know it was possible for you to get any cuter!”

“Aw-- Aw this is bahd,” Percy shivered, “I’-- I’ won’ go ahway! This cain’ be happenin’!” He fell to the ground and curled into a ball of anxiety.

Aurora sighed and turned back to Wess. “Well, now that he’s taken care of, let’s get to reading.”

Wess looked to the ceiling for help as Aurora felt a hand on her shoulder. In a flash, the small girl found herself turned around and staring at a very angry Anna. “Hey,” Anna shouted, “You can’t just waltz in here, screw with Wess, and make Percy have a mental breakdown. That’s my job!”

With a roll of her eyes, Aurora turned around and back to Wess, who was still staring toward the plaster sky. “C’mon Wess. We got distracted so let’s take it from--” She found herself a bit dizzy and staring at Anna again.

“Oh no you don’t! I’m gonna go all out on you!” Anna pulled out her bag and began to shuffle through it, pulling out a deck of cards, a screwdriver, a paper shuriken, a rubber duck, and a pacifier.

Aurora blinked and turned to Wess. “What’s she going to do?”

“Something terrifying,” Wess said, having found a small crack in one of the panels that had become very interesting, “Probably.”

Aurora turned back to find Anna rummaging through her bag once more. “This is your last chance, you better apologise and get out! I know I can be a bit over-the-top with the guys, but at least I--” In a flash, a red stress toy shaped like a heart was pulled out of the bag and shoved into Aurora’s face, “Have a heart!”

Aurora blinked as silence overwhelmed them.

“Seriously,” Anna frowned, glancing between Aurora, Wess, and the sobbing Percy, though Aurora was the only one really paying attention, “I’ve been waiting to make that joke for months! You could at least chuckle.”

“Sorry, I’m not much one for prop comedy,” Aurora sighed, reaching into her own purse, “Besides, you’re being rude. I’m human, I have a heart.” With that, she produced a stress toy almost identical to Anna’s, with the difference of some holes from wear-and-tear that ran throughout the small thing. “See?”

Anna’s jaw dropped. The tall girl dropped the toy and clutched her head with her hands, turning around and screaming to the sky, “God damn it!”

“I came prepared,” Aurora shrugged.

Wess could only hear stomping before his tile-gazing was interrupted by being violently shook. “Wess!” Anna screamed, “Why didn’t you tell me she had props on her? I can’t fight her if she counters me so easily!”

“Why not?”

“She has the advantage here! I can be countered once without losing my pride, but I know nothing about her and we’re probably all you talk about to her.”

“I try to not let him talk about much,” Aurora shrugged.

Turning on her heel, Anna squatted down to meet Aurora at eye level. “You win this one, girl.” Raising back to her normal height and giving a dignified swish of her hair, she began a small trek to Percy, her strut showing nothing but elegance and grace. “Now if you need me, I’ll be joining Percy.” With that, she dropped next to Percy and curled into a fetal position in front of the counter.

The small girl sighed as she once more returned to the broad-shouldered boy. The boy still stared at the ceiling, so she reached up and gave him a good slap across the face. Wess looked down to meet Aurora’s stern gaze as he gestured to the booth behind the  _ Welcome to Cornerstone Cafe _ decal. Like a prisoner ushering himself to his own execution, like a kid willingly walking into a dentist’s office, he followed after Aurora.

The two sat down, Wess picking up a script and beginning to prattle off, “I just don’t see why we need to wear these new ties, they’re such a bother to put on. It’s just one giant incon--”

“Why are you friends with them?”

Wess glanced up from the script. While he expected her to be shyly looking at him, having been conditioned by hours and hours of television, he was only met once more by her annoyed gaze. “I dunno,” Wess said, “They’re fun to hang out with. Why not?”

“Because we need more time to rehearse and you’re always off with these idiots,” she groaned before resting her head on her hand, impatiently tapping the desk and staring outside. “It didn’t used to be like this. We need to get the old team together.”

Wess rolled his eyes. “Well, Shauna is gone and Jacob is, well--”

“Don’t remind me,” Aurora shuddered, “But still, we gotta do something if we want to make it big and having a team will help.” She tapped the desk once or twice, waiting for the right words to come to her. “Why not have your friends be our new team? That Percy guy does magic and the chick lives for her gags, right?” She steadied her breath and looked to Wess’s forehead, a place where she could deem to meet his gaze without actually doing so.

Wess glanced at his friends, both still curled up and having a mental breakdown or sulking respectively. He turned back to his partner. “Nah, I don’t really think they’re up for it.”

“Fine, fine,” Aurora grumbled, “But we still need to practice. From the top.”

“I just don’t see why we need to wear these new ties,” Wess sighed, “They’re such a bother to put on. It is just one large inconvenience.”

“Oh hush now. If you keep complaining, your face will wrinkle.”

“Wrinkled or not, I would rather dress the way I prefer.”

There was a pause as Aurora wrinkled her nose at the script. “Hang on,” she said, breaking character. Wess half-expected her to want to stop due to the awful script, though his mind changed when he read the next line to himself. “We can’t read this.”

Wess cracked a grin, though his best to cast a bored-looking glance toward Aurora, “Why not?”

“Because Anna somehow got through to my insider and gave me the wrong script, look,” she held her script to Wess and pointed to her next line, “Your face will be pickled by the time you get your way, then.” She groaned. “Dang it, I shoulda known that even the school wouldn’t pick a script this lame.” She slumped back into her seat, crossed her arms, and pouted.

Wess’s mouth dropped. “W- Wait a minute. How could she have done that?” Wess had no question Anna had the ability to do so. The real question going through the boy’s mind was how Aurora had figured it out.

“Probably got some dirt on a teacher or paid them off. Her family’s rich, you know.” She sighed. “I wouldn’t have figured it out if weren’t for that pickle bit, but I realized that girl lied to me last week.” She paused and realized Wess probably had no idea what she was talking about. She sighed and continued, “One time, while I was rehearsing in the hall, she came up to me because she got kicked out of her Sex Ed class for--”

“I don’t want to know why and I know where you’re heading with this.” Wess groaned, looked down in defeat, but then smiled and looked back up to Aurora. “Well then, I guess we don’t have to practice after all.”

Aurora looked out at the still-dark morning sky. “I guess not.”

A moment passed.

Wess glanced outside to see if anything had caught her attention, though there wasn’t anything of interest to be seen. He looked to his friends, Percy still sobbing on the ground, and Anna who seemed to be silently screaming at the sky for being outsmarted.

“And?” Wess asked. “What’re you gonna do now then?”

“Stick around, I guess,” Aurora said almost playfully, still gazing out on the morning night, “Make sure those idiots don’t injure you. Gotta keep my partner in shape.”

Wess sighed. “So I guess we ain’t getting rid of you?”

In an instant, Aurora’s gaze to the dark turned to a glare at Wess and her voice became colder than the snow outside. “You’re gonna have to try harder if you want to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week, Percy plays with a corpse.


	7. Pulling Strings

There’s a constant ringing in the head of the girl with curly hair and sunglasses as she walks down Williams Street. The ringing always starts on that street, constantly chipping away at her sanity. The girl tries to avoid it, though it’s impossible in such a small town. The ringing grinds away at her mind like a pickaxe against stone, slowly but surely wearing it down to nothing. A force, stopping at nothing until she inevitably breaks.

And then the cravings set in. It starts with a small grumble in her stomach, growing to the point of a volcanic quake. The feeling spreads. Not the feeling of grumbling, though she shakes with every movement. It’s the feeling of need. It spreads through her throat, the need to feel that molten hot liquid rushing through it. It spreads to her mouth, the need for it to burn her taste buds like fire on oil. And, as she approaches the intersection of Williams and Alms, its scent envelops her. It drives her mad, the denial of what she needs most, the need for coffee.

She wonders why she’s even out here, she could be at home and working out or at least working at her father’s garage. Why would she even come near this worthless little cafe? Other than the fact it was the only place that served a coffee worth a damn in a hundred mile radius and the store-bought stuff just wasn’t the same, of course. She kicks at the snow under her heel.

The girl glances inside. It’s warm in there, bright. Almost cheerful. A trio of idiots argues at the booth just to the right of the decal reading _Welcome to Cornerstone Cafe_. A girl bounces up and down as she makes an order at the counter where the barista seems to barely register it. Even though the entire building was soaked in an inescapable sense of dread, it almost seemed inviting. She could just walk in, order a cup of coffee, take a seat, and indulge in her addiction. She would do it too, if it weren’t for the fact that she had been banned the previous week. 

It was just a little bit of miscommunication. A girl pulls out a knife. So what? Every girl’s gotta carry some self protection around these days. And that whole demanding money thing? She never said she wouldn’t pay them back, she just never said that she would either. A perfectly reasonable explanation. Well, it would be, if everyone who had witnessed the incident were an idiot.

The girl grinned and set her gaze upon the cafe’s entrance as she realized everyone who had witnessed the incident was, indeed, an idiot.

With a bounce that could have been called a skip if she weren’t too hardcore to do one, the curly-haired girl jumped toward the entrance and threw open the door with a force to smash a person’s face in. However, there was no face to smash in, so all that reacted was the jingle of the bell above and the ragged barista as he snapped his head toward her.

“Welcome to Cornerstone Cafe,” he said, his head falling to its side like his neck had snapped, “What can I get you?”

The girl looked at the barista, trying to register why he looked like a ragdoll. She grunted and decided it wasn’t important. Important to her was that this one wasn’t the one that had gotten her banned. While the other barista may have grown a spine, there were no doubts in her mind that this barista was still the old idiot she’d pulled several scams off on. Addy, if she remembered right.

Addy’s head snapped back up to attention. The girl noticed he wasn’t blinking. “Wait a minute,” his head leaned forward, the rest of his body deciding to come with it, “Aren’t you Draka? The banned girl?” He was bent at a ninety-degree angle toward her. Draka would have expected him to rest an arm or something on the counter to balance herself with, but his hands remained firmly at his sides.

“Um, er, uh,” she shuddered at the sight before her, “No?”

Addy smiled. It seemed larger than it should be. Draka wasn’t an expert on teeth, but she would say he had too many. Or maybe there weren’t enough. It just seemed wrong. “Ah, okay then. What can I get you?”

Draka gulped and looked up to the menu boards above the counter. What was her usual complicated order? She used to do this daily, she should know this! She glanced back down to Addy, his smile had somehow grown. Her voice was hoarse, she could barely choke her order out. “Uh, just, y’know, a coffee.”

“You’re gonna have to be more specific than that. We serve a lot of that sort of stuff.”

Draka instinctively looked down toward Addy, regretted it, then nervously threw her gaze back to the menu. She wasn’t focusing much on the menu as much as she was trying to not look back down at the abomination Addy had become since the last time she saw him. He looked the same, mostly, but his movements were different. She couldn’t pinpoint anything specific aside from that. He just looked wrong.

There was a glint of something in the air, something that caught one of the bar lights above Addy. Draka put her nerves aside for a moment, focusing on what she soon came to realize was a near-invisible piece of string. She followed the sting down, keeping her focus careful on it to not lose it to the background. And, soon enough, she reached the end of the line. The string was tied around Addy’s head, stretching from the top of his scalp down to the base of his chin and back around again. It wasn’t like a noose and there seemed to be some open space for him to open his mouth to talk. She then noticed a small piece of tape on his chin, holding another of the string.

“What the?” Draka muttered to herself as she silently followed the string from the ceiling back down to the ground, behind Addy. She leaned over the counter, Addy not reacting other than his eyes following her where she went. Behind the counter, holding a mess of near-invisible string, she found a small boy in a green apron. His nametag read ‘Percy’.

Draka blinked, backed up, resisted her temptation to scream, and looked to Addy. “Pay no attention to the boy behind the counter,” Addy said, the string pulling his mouth open and shut to do so. Draka then turned around and approached the trio to the left of the _efaC enotsrenroC ot emocleW_ decal.

There was a broad-shouldered boy blankly staring at his phone, a tall-but-thin girl rummaging through a purse, and a short-and-stout girl desperately grabbing for said purse, though her arms couldn’t reach across the table. Draka didn’t wait for any of them to notice her. “Your friend is playing puppet with a corpse,” she said

“No he’s not,” said the taller girl, Anna, if Draka’s memory was right, “He’s too timid.” She blew her tongue at the shorter girl and grinned.

“He pointed a gun at me when I tried to rob this place before.”

“He’d faint at just seeing one,” said the boy, Wess, without looking up from his phone.

Draka slammed on the table and pointed to Wess. “You were there!”

Wess shrugged, quickly followed by a casual lean backwards to avoid the purse as it flew back at him and the smaller girl. He glanced to the girl. “How’d you do that, Aurora?”

Aurora grunted. “I kicked her in the shins then grabbed it while she was startled. Had to wrestle it from her a bit.” She opened up the purse and pulled out a pair of papers stapled together. “The school announced the play today. The final script might be a bit different, but we should at least have a starting point before auditions.”

Wess glanced at Aurora and then turned his attention to Draka. “So, what was that about Perce playing with a corpse?”

Draka sighed and rolled her eyes. “He’s over there behind the counter and has this whole--”

“You’re not getting out of this that easy!” Aurora grabbed the large boy by his ear and pulled his focus back to her. She shoved one of the stacks of printed pages into his hands. “You have first line, my character is introduced on the second page.” She turned to face Wess, her back toward the window, and leaned into a relaxed position. A grin spread across her face as she reached for her drink without looking, though she only grasped at air. She glared at the air as she turned to the table proper to find where the drink had gone. What she found, though, was that Anna was drinking it.

Anna flashed a smile as she lowered the cup from her lips, gently placed it on the table, and cusped her hands together beside it. A moment passed as Aurora nearly popped a vein at the scene before her, Wess sighed as he refocused on his phone, and Draka just stared on in confusion. The silence was broken by Anna who simply stated, “Well it looks like we need to go to the bar and order you--” She was cut off by the plastic coffee cup beside her falling onto its side as Anna herself fell onto the table, hacking coughs out of her throat, strained words caught between them. “Aurora, what di-” She pounded her fist on the table. “You or- _ack_ -der?”

Aurora crossed her arms and frowned. Well, frowned more than she usually did. “Just a caramel mocha with six shots of espresso, cream included.”

Draka looked down on the grumpy girl. “Six?”

Aurora rose up and loomed over Anna. “You’re paying me back for that.”

Wess’s eyes went wide. “Did you say espresso? Crap, we gotta get outta here.” He grabbed Aurora’s hand and pulled her forward, brushing Draka aside as he jumped out of the booth, Aurora close behind.

“What’s with Aurora and espresso?”

“You know how she is normally. Putting caffeine in her might make her explode.”

“This is a coffee shop, though. Doesn’t she get coffee everyday?”

“She gets water and sometimes hot chocolate.”

Wess dragged Aurora along to the exit, though was stopped in place by Draka grabbing him by the shoulder. “Hang on, what the barista?”

Wess shrugged. “Eh, he works here. He should be able to deal with something like this.”

“I meant the corpse thing.”

Aurora groaned and pushed Draka’s hand off of Wess. Draka muttered, “Possessive much?”

“Come on,” Aurora said, turning around and signaling them toward the counter, “Let’s just show her things are fine so we can get to rehearsing.”

“Yeah, but Anna--” Wess argued before turning over his shoulder to find Anna draped over the table, drool dripping from her mouth. “Oh.” The boy shrugged and followed the others to the bar.

Addy stood behind the counter, still and staring at absolutely nothing. Draka wondered if the boy was breathing. The trio approached, though Addy didn’t do much to react until Draka clapped her hands in front of his face. He opened his mouth but didn’t blink. “Oh hey, didn’t see you there. What can I get for you?”

Draka walked to the side and threw out her hands to showcase him. “See? We’re right in front of him and he didn’t even notice us. Hell, he didn’t even flinch!”

Wess yawned. “Is that all? That’s just how Addy rolls.”

“Yes, but, what about this?” Draka leaned over the counter to find Percy, though Percy couldn’t be found. “The hell?” She returned to her previous stance and glossed over the barista’s body. The strings were still there and still moving whenever he made a light movement. She followed the string to the ceiling and back to the bathroom corridor to the right end of the cafe, where a frightened-looking boy was peering out at them. Draka pointed at him. “Hey!”

Percy gasped and fell back into the boy’s restroom. Aurora and Wess turned to look, but only found air. Wess turned back to Draka. “What are you trying to show us?”

Addy perked up from behind, leaning over the counter to watch. “Yeah, what’s going on?”

Draka shot a finger at the barista, closely followed by a glare. “You shut up. I don’t know how you’re doing this from back there, but you’re not fooling me.” 

Addy blinked.

“That’s it, now you’re dead!” With what could almost be called grace, the enraged girl jumped onto the counter and began marching toward Addy, uncaring for the various paper cups she crushed beneath her boots as she did. Addy didn’t really react, only raising an eyebrow as the girl dropped down in front of him, reached into her purse, and casually put a knife to his face. “I don’t know how you’re able to control him, or do any of your chat-chat-chatting from so far away, but I’m cutting you down, you creepy little coffee server,” she sneered.

Wess and Aurora passed glances at each other, silently asking the other if they should stop her. Wess said they should just ignore it and hope it works out for the best, Aurora agreed and said they should get to rehearsing their script, then Wess decided they should intervene before things went bad.

“Hey, uh,” Wess began, heroically stepping behind Aurora, “The police weren’t called last time, y’know, but if you stab him you’re probably going to jail.”

Draka groaned and turned to Wess, though still holding her knife to Addy. “I’m not gonna stab him, jeeze.” She turned back to the barista, grabbed the air above his head with her free hand, and cut at something above that. With another quick slice below the nothing she held, she turned to the duo behind the counter and, with an aura of pure smugness, closed her eyes and opened her palm.

“What the hell, Draka?” Wess shouted.

Draka opened her eyes to a very angry Wess. Did he not see the string? She could definitely feel them in her hand, though maybe they were a bit hard to see still. She sighed and explained, “Look closely. It’s some kinda invisible string. That barista friend a’ yours was controlling this guy,” she pointed at Addy, “With ‘em. Like a puppet.”

Wess rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. Percy was showing those to us earlier. Do you know how much that string cost him?”

Draka stared at him. She opened her mouth, but found her words refused to come out.

“I don’t know either but it sounded like a lot!”

Aurora glared toward Wess. “He said they cost him twenty bucks and he had more at home anyway.”

Wess sighed, and, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, stated, “It’s the principle of the matter, though. And I know Percy won’t make a fuss of it, so I have to for him.”

“No matter how chivalric you try and make it sound, it’s still making a mountain out of a molehill. She only cut off, what, a foot?”

Draka blinked. “You guys knew?”

Aurora groaned. “Of course we knew. Percy wouldn’t shut up about those things. Something about a new magic trick.” She shrugged. “The more he talked, the less I listened.”

“It was interesting hearing him describe it,” Addy interjected.

The hair stuck up on the back of Draka’s neck as Addy spoke. She shook involuntarily as she slowly turned her head back to see Addy standing upright, smiling at her like always. She stuttered. “I-- I thought you were-- dead.”

Addy shook his head. “Nah, Percy just wanted to test his strings to see if they could support a human’s movements.” He paused for a moment. “I did fall asleep at some point, but I woke up before ya came in.” He paused for another moment, then yawned.

Draka’s face froze. It all seemed so ridiculous. She shook her head and turned to the duo on the other side of the counter. “You knew about this? Why didn’t you tell me this guy wasn’t dead?”

Wess crossed his arms and frowned. “We told you not to worry.”

“And this is normal to you? You don’t bat an eye about your friend playing puppet with another human being in the middle of a cafe?”

“It’s less annoying than anything Anna ever does,” Aurora said, “‘Sides, it looks like he’s done. Or taking a bathroom break, or whatever.”

Draka’s jaw hung in the air. “Th-- That’s insane! You guys are insane!”

Addy tapped her on the shoulder. “Are you gonna order something? I’m gonna have to kick you out of here if you don’t step back in front of the counter.”

Draka looked up at Addy, almost pleading for him to show some semblance of sense, before sighing and jumping back over the counter. In between the chaos, she realized she’d forgotten about her cravings. She smiled at the fact the chaos of the place seemed to have cured her addiction.

On the other hand, it wasn’t even noon and she felt pretty tired. 

“I’ll just… I’ll just have a frappe,” she said, resigned.  At last they seemed to forget she was banned.


	8. Have a Seat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy tries to be proactive with his crush.
> 
> Key word being 'tries'.

The bell above Cornerstone Cafe’s entrance rang as a tall-but-thin girl entered, shivering a bit from the snow outside and then yawning from her own exhaustion. With bleared eyes, she looked over the small cafe, from the stuffing popping out of the torn red booth seats to the blinking light hanging at the cafe’s back, in the small corridor housing the restrooms, and finally to the cafe bar, where a small boy in a green apron was laughing maniacally behind it. The girl yawned again and turned her attention to the chalkboard sign hanging behind the laughing boy. The drink of the day was hot chocolate with a scoop of ice cream.

Licking her lips, the girl dragged herself toward the counter. It took about all her strength to reach it, though all she carried was a backpack and bags under her eyes. The barista didn’t notice her when she arrived, the small boy was too focused on the notebook his pencil danced across.

“Percy,” the girl croaked out, holding onto the front of the counter for stability.

The barista didn’t react.

“Percy!”

Percy glanced up for half a second, glossed over her, then refocused on his writing like the girl didn’t exist. However, writing became hard to do when the girl crashed onto the boy’s notebook. The girl groaned as the boy gasped and jumped back. “A-- Anna! When did you get here?”

Anna moved her head onto its side and looked up at Percy. There was some drool hanging from her mouth. Percy’s eyes went wide as his face turned pale as a ghost’s. With a whimper, the frail boy tried to pull the notebook out from under her, though all he could do was tug off a small bit of paper from both of its sides. He groaned and looked toward the door, then the storefront windows, and then back down at Anna. She seemed to have fallen asleep.

Percy poked the girl but didn’t earn a reply, then, glancing back and forth through the empty cafe, scooched her head off to the side of the notebook. The boy cringed a bit at the drool staining the page, but refocused on his task of moving the sleeping girl off of the damning document. Unfortunately, as her head moved, her body came along with it, throwing her off balance and towards the floor. Anna was awoken by Percy’s gasp and barely register the idea of falling before everything went black again. 

A hand grabbing onto her arm was the next thing Anna remembered. It went black again. And then Percy tapped on some football play-looking illustrations in his notebook and explained, “It’s a plan. To help me get over my crush on Wess--” Then the dark returned. “He usually--” The darkness began to cut in and out, only allowing her a few seconds of lucidity between. “Because I know he’s straight-- So then you-- Aurora is the real problem-- And while the building is on fire, we run to-- I’m really determined about this so I’m not gonna back down, no matter what. You got it?”

Anna stood still for a moment. Percy’s maniacal grin quickly fell into a trembling quiver. Had he said to much? He meant to just say getting them to sit together would help him overcome his crush. Had he accidentally revealed the part of the plan to hook the two up? He’d promised Wess to not reveal that he had a crush on her, would he get mad and stop being friends? Percy waited for any semblance of a response from Anna. “D-- Did you hear what I said?”

Anna nodded, though she didn’t get it at all and was sure at least one of the things she heard was either a hallucination or a dream. “Okay,” she said. She realized she was back to laying on the bar counter. Percy must have picked her up, though he didn’t look strong enough. Maybe she did it and forgot. “Now, since I’m doing something for you, can you do something for me?” Percy nodded. “I want you to make me the hot chocolate ice cream thing.”

Percy smiled and spun in a gleeful circle. When his rotation returned to Anna, he was holding a small mug of hot chocolate with an island of vanilla ice cream floating in the center. “I thought you’d want one, so I made it a few minutes before you came in and set it aside.” He placed it in front of Anna, flinched, then picked it back up. “Oh, but you’re in no condition to drink-- eat? Both?” He shook his head. “Either way, you need a straw or something.”

“No,” Anna said, “I don’t want to drink it.” She groaned from exhaustion. “I want you to pour it on me.”

“What? No!” Percy put the mug to the side and balled his hands. “It’s too hot! You’ll get burned and I’d have to clean it up.”

Anna’s eyes closed. “Do it or I’m not gonna have enough energy to go through with your plan. My parents made me stay up late last night to study for some mock exam even though we’re on break. I feel like a zombie.”

Percy blinked, picked up the mug, and unceremoniously dumped its contents onto the dreary girl. Anna’s eyes flashed open as the drink hit the back of her head. “Aieeeeee!” The girl screamed as she jumped back in pain, the fire of the drink dripping down through her jacket and lighting her back ablaze. She fell to the ground and began to roll like a flipped-over turtle. “Hot! Hot! Hot! Percy, why didn’t you warn me?”

“I did!”

“You should know I don’t listen to warnings!”

Percy opened his mouth to argue but realized he really should know that by now and closed it. He sighed, walked out of the bar, past the girl who had stopped rolling around in pain and was now doing it for fun, went to the bathroom corridor, and returned with a mop and bucket. “Please get up, I need to clean this mess before Wess arrives.”

As if on cue, the entrance bell rang out as a broad-shouldered boy and a short-and-stout girl entered the cafe, both shivering and brushing off the snow sticking to their coats. The girl glared around the building; the boy walked over to Percy and Anna.

“Hey guys,” said the broad-shouldered boy, “What’s going on?”

“Hey Wess,” said Percy with a smile. Percy then peered behind Wess and, with more annoyance than enthusiasm, drolled out, “Hello Aurora.”

Aurora glared back at him, though he knew not to take it personally.

Percy turned back to Wess, who was watching and waiting for Anna to do something. He never knew what she’d do, but it was always something chaotic, unstoppable, and already in motion by the time he got there. Anna simply smiled to Percy and whistled a tune she didn’t quite remember was from a song or something she made up. Wess’s disinterested look slowly broke into worry as Anna did nothing.

The broad-shouldered boy leaned down to his smaller companion and whispered, “Is she okay?”

“She didn’t get much sleep last night.” He tried to turn on his heel toward Wess but found the ground was still sticky beneath him. Instead, he just turned his head. “Oh yeah, and she made me pour hot chocolate on her.”

Wess looked back at the absentminded girl, narrowed his gaze for a moment, then turned to Aurora. “I think I’m actually up for rehearsal today.”

The faintest hint of a smug smile appeared in the corner of Aurora’s mouth and, in the same flash as it appeared, went away. She waved him toward a booth. “Come on then,” she said with practiced boredom, taking a seat on the booth’s right. Wess took another glance at Anna, who now seemed to be staring into empty space, and followed Aurora to the right.

“H-- Hey!” Percy grasped onto Wess’s arm before he could get too far away. A raised eyebrow sent Percy into a sputtering, “Um, uh-- I-- Well, you--” He shook his head and leaned in to whisper, “Don’t you have a crush on Anna?”

Wess glanced back to Anna, though it was evident she didn’t hear. He could hear a rhythmic tapping behind him, he reasoned it was Aurora. He whispered, “Yeah, and?”

“Why don’t you ever sit next to her?”

“She’s always up to something and today it’s gonna be exceptionally bad. I don’t want to be caught on the same side of it as she is.” He crossed his arms and frowned. “Besides, Aurora keeps wanting me to sit next to her.”

Anna gasped, eyes inflating like balloons. Before anyone could turn to her, she was gone. Wess and Percy glanced around in confusion while Aurora tried to resist punching the girl who suddenly appeared in front of her and began poking her nose. “You have a crush on Wess, don’t you?” Anna prodded.

Aurora grabbed the taller girl’s arm and held it away from her. “Only an idiot would have a crush on that lumbering oaf,” she grumbled, letting Anna go. Wess rolled his eyes, Percy groaned.

“So then why do you want him to sit next to you?” Anna rose a finger to poke again, but stopped as Aurora growled at her.

“It’s just easier to rehearse this way.” The small girl patted the tattered seat. “Come on, Wess.”

Wess grunted and followed.

“Hold it!” Shouted Percy. The three turned to the smaller boy, who closed his eyes and shrunk down like he was about to be hit by a rogue baseball. The three glanced at each other for a moment as Percy took the same moment to breathe and cautiously open his eyes. Through chattering teeth he managed, “What I mean is-- isn’t it better to practice when facing the other person?” He clenched his eyes shut once more.

Wess chewed on his lip as he looked down on Percy before turning to Aurora. “Okay, yeah,” he said, “Perce makes a good point. Why the hell do you always want me sitting next to you?”

Anna slid into the left side of the booth. She let her right hand’s pointer and middle fingers walk across the table to Aurora. Each step was punctuated with a small chant of, “Crush, crush, crush, crush.” The hand reached the other end of the table, floated into the air, and poked Aurora in the nose. “Crush!”

Aurora swatted at the hand, though Anna pulled it away before she could hit it. “Knock it off!”

“So then why do you want to sit next to Wess?” Anna grinned.

Aurora looked to the side and murmured something. Her face gained the heat of a not-so-powerful lightbulb.

“What was that?” Anna chuckled to herself.

Aurora looked back to Anna, pounded on the table, and shouted, “It’s because I’m short and can’t reach across the table to smack Wess if he gets distracted!” She puffed out some air and crossed her arms, once again averting her gaze through the storefront windows. “There, you happy now?”

Wess, Percy, and Anna all looked at Aurora for a moment. Percy rose his hand. “If that’s all, we have some booster seats in storage.” Wess and Anna turned to Percy, both instilled with the fear of a higher power; in this case, Aurora. Percy ignored them, though, and looked to see if Aurora thought the suggestion would work. However, all he received was a harsh glare. He learned not to take it personally, though in this case he really should.

“And what about you?” Aurora asked. “Why are you so uptight about Wess and I sitting separately?”

Anna put a hand on Percy’s shoulder, half of curiosity and half of concern. “Yeah, what’s going on?”

“Anna,” Percy groaned, side-eyeing her, “Don’t you remember the plan?”

“So there was a plan.” Aurora put a hand to her chin and closed her eyes. “Pray tell why you had one?” She shot her gaze to Percy, who recoiled.

Percy cringed. He looked between Wess, who seemed as curious as Aurora, and Anna, who was back to staring at blank space. “Uh, because Anna really needs someone to look after her right now? She’s still really doozy.”

Wess glanced at Anna. While she did look a bit out of it she could always just be playing toward a bit and waiting for her scheme to explode. Wess shook his head and glanced at her again. She was his crush, he reminded himself, and more importantly, his friend. He couldn’t just leave her if she was loopy. She didn’t seem to even notice the ice cream melded into her hair. But, again, she’d done this in the past. Act like she won’t do something for one second and she does something ten times worse than you could ever imagine.

Wess sighed and looked back to Percy. Percy seemed nervous, looking between the trio of not-Percys. Why would Percy be so nervous over something like this? Why would Percy try to hide the plan from Wess when his crush was already brought up? Whatever plan he had, this definitely wasn’t it.

“Percy,” Wess said, “What was your plan, really?”

Percy gulped. If Wess sat next to Aurora, then he’d make no progress to hooking Wess and Anna up and he wouldn’t be able to get over his crush. Aurora would be too busy distracting and slapping Wess to have time for the hook-up plan. Wess sitting next to Aurora was a worst case scenario for his plan; Wess’s well-being too, but that was less important. He did not want them sitting together. His body froze for a second, a smile twinging onto his lips. It was still the truth, just a smaller portion of it: He didn’t want them sitting together.

Tears sprang from Percy’s eyes. They weren’t fake, he’d been on the verge of crying for five minutes now, but that didn’t mean he had to say the real reason he was crying. “Aurora’s so mean and you keep sacrificing yourself to keep her from us,” Percy sobbed, “I just wanted to repay the favor and sit next to her instead so you wouldn’t get hurt!”

Wess’s eyes went wide, Anna gasped, and Aurora glared at the small, though taller than herself, boy.

“Percy!” Anna teared up. “You’re so heroic!” She clambered out of the booth, falling onto the ground as she did. She picked herself up and flung herself at Percy, knocking him to the sticky floor with her. “And you’re so right! We should take turns keeping her at bay!” The tall girl looked back to her smaller counterpart, who glared at them with enough focus to set a fire. Anna laughed sheepishly. “She looks angry, you might want to sit this one out. I got it today.” With that, she picked herself up off the ground, skipped over to the left side of the booth, and slid herself in. She sat with glee for half a second and gasped. “Oops! Force of habit.” A moment later, she appeared next to Aurora, popping up like a groundhog after slipping under the table to her. She smiled to Aurora. Aurora looked like she could bite Anna’s head off.

Wess shrugged. He didn’t quite believe this was the extent of what Percy wanted, but it seemed to be working out in his favor. “Okay then, I guess.” And so he took a seat on the left side of the booth.

Percy sighed. Maybe this was a sign from the world to keep his crush going for a bit longer. He had fought to get this result, even if it accidentally benefitted him in a different way than he wanted. He cried after having someone be mean to him, but he hadn’t fainted. He was improving! Or maybe he was eternally bound to suffer. Probably the latter.

The small boy leaned upward. Well, at least he tried to, but the stickiness of the spilled hot chocolate kept his hair and shirt grounded. He looked to his left, where a bucket of water and mop lay against the counter. He reached a hand for it, touched it, but only managed to push it just a bit further away and completely out of his reach.

Percy whimpered. Definitely the latter.


	9. Adventures in Channel Surfing

A ring echoed through the otherwise silent Cornerstone Cafe. The ragged barista behind the counter didn’t look up, not hearing anything outside his earbuds. A nervous-looking little girl sat on her haunches, flipping through the channels of an old TV that hung in the cafe’s back corner. The TV had words to say, but kept them locked into black caption boxes. A broad-shouldered boy tried to focus on his phone but kept glancing back at the TV. A message from ‘Percy’ appeared on his screen, saying “Meet you guys in about eight minutes.” Across from the boy, a tall-but-thin girl looked away from her laptop, groaned, and picked up her phone.

“Hi Mom,” she didn’t even try to fake an enthusiastic tone to mask her annoyance. She pecked a key on the laptop. “Yeah, yeah. I almost have it done, I’ve been working on it all morning.” She listened to the other end of the line. “Okay, I’ll take another shower and do my hair and stuff before tonight. I don’t get why Hollie and I have to go to dinner with your investors.” More chatter that the broad-shouldered boy could barely hear. She grunted. “Love you too.”

“Sounds like they’re running you ragged,” said the broad-shouldered boy as the girl put her phone back on the table, “Didn’t think you’d be the type of person to let your parents control you like that, Anna. What are they even making you do?”

“Just coding activities. Besides, you remember what I told you and Percy last week, Wess, I have to keep up with these studies so they don’t put their attention on Hollie.” She glanced to the girl flipping through channels. “They put so much effort into my studies. They want me to work as some tech manufacturer with them. Soon enough they’re gonna make Hollie do the same.”

Wess glanced behind himself again, though now putting his focus on Hollie rather than the TV. She sat on the floor and had a volley going between two channels, one talking about the stock market and the other showing a documentary on the moon landing. In between the two channels was a show with cartoon goats. He turned back to Anna. “Maybe she wants to be an astronaut; that’s a common dream job for a kid.”

“And maybe she wants to be a stockbroker? Come on, Wess. Nobody wants to be a stockbroker.” She glared at Wess, though the glare quickly broke into a sad gaze downward. “She wants to be seen as mature, but the second my parents think she is she won’t be able to enjoy being a kid anymore. She likes that goat show, she’s just trying to hide it between two ‘mature’ things. Apparently the season finale is today, but she got kicked out of the house while Mom and Dad show off some stuff to investors and she wouldn’t be caught dead watching it by anyone.” She paused from her typing and giggled to herself. “I caught her watching it a few times. It’s funny when she gets angry. And the bits made absolutely no sense out of context, like I’m pretty sure one of the goats was fighting a dragon at one point.”

“The season finale is today?” Wess stared blankly at Anna. He coughed and looked away. “I mean, the season finale of a sitcom I watch is today. I just remembered it was Saturday.” He glanced to Anna, who didn’t seem to be buying it, and then away again. “That’s what I meant. I’m too normal to watch a kid’s show.”

“Right.” She dragged out the word and smiled at Wess. Wess didn’t react, finding whatever the barista was doing very interesting. Anna just sighed and returned to her work. “You know,” she said after a moment, “It would be a big help if you could try and get her to watch the dang show. Y’know, let her enjoy being a kid. Percy’s little friend Wally can keep her acting like one, but that’s about all.” She sighed.

Wess looked back at Hollie. She seemed to frown as she passed the cartoon again and landed on the stock report for another minute. Wess frowned too. He narrowed his eyes on the girl, stood up, confidently said, “I’m on it,” and walked off toward Hollie. Behind him, Anna smiled, though the smile was quickly sighed out of existence as she returned to her laptop.

The small girl gave an equally-sized, “hmph,” as the boy sat down next to her. She pretended not to notice him, instead focusing on the stock report for as long as she could. The boy (she didn’t remember his name, Pest or something?) said something, but she tuned him out, opting to listen to a song in her head. She didn’t exactly register what it was as she began to hum it, but she figured there was no harm in it.

Wess tapped her on the shoulder, earning an annoyed look from her and a quiet to her humming. “You realize you’re humming the Space Goats theme song,” Wess said, “You obviously want to watch it, so why don’t you?”

“Why do you know what it sounds like?” Hollie pouted and flipped through the channels again, earning a shot of a goat with a fishbowl over its head floating aimlessly through space. It looked as terrified as a cartoon goat in space wearing a fishbowl could. “You’re a high schooler, right?” The goat was no longer on screen, instead replaced by stock footage of a rocket take-off. She must have changed it to the documentary again while he wasn’t looking.

“And you’re, what, twelve?” Wess glanced down at the girl. “Shouldn’t watching that show be normal for a kid?”

Hollie’s cheeks went red and she crossed her arms. “I don’t like that show because I’m not a kid!” Her annoyed gaze turned into a glare. “And since you’re an adult, you’re a creep for liking it!”

Wess flinched. “Hey! I don’t like it either, I just heard some kid sing the song the other day.”

The TV flicked back to  _ Space Goats _ , where the goat wearing a fishbowl was being pulled into a spaceship that looked like a generic UFO. Wess and Hollie balled their hands as the screen faded to black, both having lost their focus on each other to the television. An evil laughter boomed, according to the closed captions.

“I swear if Captain Goatface is turned evil in the finale, I’m gonna write such an angry blog,” Hollie grumbled.

“If I knew they were replaying last week’s episode, I woulda said I was sick and stayed home for both of ‘em,” Wess grumbled as well.

The two turned to each other, locking eyes for a moment while their faces hardened. The message was essentially the same between the two’s expressions, Wess’s saying ‘shit’ while Hollie’s said ‘crud’. Hollie quickly flipped the channel back to the stock report.

“Okay,” Wess lowered himself to Hollie’s eye level and slowly, almost silently, continued, “I know you want to watch it, and you know I want to watch it. So let’s just turn the TV back to Space Goats and we can both be happy.” He slowly, like a glacier moving a foot a year, reached for the remote on the opposite side of Hollie. Hollie shoved his hand away and turned back to her sister.

“Anna!” Hollie screamed, “Your friend’s being a creep!”

“I know,” Anna said, not bothering to look up from the laptop, “Just try and deal with it.”

Wess groaned and reeled his remoteless hand in. “Well what are you gonna do? Just sit here and watch people talk about stuff you don’t understand for an hour?”

“I understand stocks perfectly,” Hollie smiled smugly, “When they go up it’s good and when they go down it’s bad. More money good, less money bad.”

Wess frowned and scratched the back of his neck. “Well, that’s basically it.” An idea hit him. He pulled out his wallet. “Okay, how about this? I’ll give you five bucks to watch the show.”

“No deal.” Hollie switched back to the space documentary. She seemed to show at least some form of interest in it.

Wess groaned and pulled out some more money. “Come on! You just said more money good. How about doubling it to ten? That’s like a million bucks to a kid.”

“I’m not a kid!” Hollie shouted in Wess’s face, though her gaze drifted down to the green in his hand.

The entrance bell jingled behind Wess and Hollie as a small boy with a gemstone necklace and an excited little boy bounced behind him. “Hey guys,” said the taller boy, “We’re back from the magic show.”

“Hey Percy,” Anna waved back, though not looking away from her task.

The little boy bounced up to Hollie. “Hey Hollie!” He slid in next to her, opposite Wess. “Space Goats is coming on soon! We had to finish early for it.”

“Wally!” Hollie exclaimed, face reddening, “What are you doing here?”

“Mr. Percy said your sister said you’d be here and I wanted to watch it with you!” Wally smiled and bounced in place. “Come on! You know what channel it’s on?”

Hollie quickly picked up the remote sitting on the ground and turned to a commercial for a kid’s show. “Yep! This one!” She froze, realizing her voice may have been a bit loud.

Wess felt a tap on his shoulder. Behind him was Percy, crouching down and wearing a confused face. “Wess? Why are you giving Hollie money?”

“Oh, I was just...” He threw the money at Hollie, who was too distracted to catch it, “Giving her cash to get a drink before her show started.” He coughed into his hand. “Yeah, that’s all.”

“Done!” Anna shouted, slamming her laptop shut. “I’m free!”

“Oh god,” Wess deadpanned, “Anna’s been unleashed. Percy, protect the children. We have to eva--” He gagged as a small fist bashed into his gut, doubling over and clutching onto his stomach. He turned back to Percy and croaked out, “Actually never mind. Mind helping me up?”

Percy smiled and held out a hand, doing his best to pull Wess to standing, though Wess mostly did it himself. “Thanks man. But seriously, now she’s up to something since she’s done.”

“Shut up, Wess,” Anna groaned as she stretched arms into the air. “I’ve been working on that since I woke up. I need a break.”

“Oh!” Percy turned back to her. “Wally was wanting me to watch this show with him. It’s supposed to be for kids, but do you want to watch it too?”

“Sure!” Anna slid out of the booth seat, past Wess, and into a sitting position next to Hollie. She turned to her sister and smiled. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

Hollie glanced despicably at Percy, who had taken a seat next to Wally and seemed to be having a mundane conversation about their performance. “Fine,” she grumbled, pulling her legs to her chest.

“You too, Wess.” Percy patted a spot on the ground behind him.

“Hang on, Percy,” Anna said, “Wess wouldn’t be into a kid’s show, he said he was too normal for it.” She grinned, her teeth holding a laugh prisoner. “We shouldn’t force him to stay unless he really wants to watch it.”

“Oh, I guess so,” Percy said, deflated. “I guess we’ll catch up with you later. Let’s go to a movie or something.”

Wess looked down on the sitting group. “Wait, but I--” He looked down at Hollie, who shared the same maniacal grin as her sister. She was blackmailing him, wasn’t she? The apple of discord doesn’t fall far from… the other apple… of discord, he thought. “Didn’t feel like watching a movie today.” He coughed, again.

“Okay. It’s still pretty early and I don’t work today. How about we drive out to the city and go bowling?”

“Last time we tried to do that, it was closed for renovations,” Anna said. “Besides, I need to be home by five, so I don’t think we can go to the city unless we’re just going there and immediately coming back.”

“Shush!” Hollie shouted, “The show’s about to start!”

“How about we hang out at my place?” Wess said.

“You clean it up since last time?” Anna said, “Hollie and I might just head home after this. Need to take care of some stuff before dinner tonight, I think.”

“Wally was wanting to show me something else,” Percy said, “Since Anna can’t hang out today, I might as well do it today. I think he’s been practicing a new trick.”

“Seriously? Come on,” Wess said.

“Don’t worry, we still have the next two or three days before break is over.”

“Yeah, but--”

“Big guy leave!” Hollie shouted, snapping her neck around to Wess. She took a second to thing, trying to remember what her sister had said earlier. “Unless he really really wants to watch it.”

Wess glowered and sighed. Picking himself up, he turned to see the group focused on the small TV. Percy grabbed the remote and turned the volume on, though the captions still remained since the TV was old and its sound was shot. The entrance bell jingled as he left the building, onto the cold and lonely streets of the small town.

He turned a corner, still looking inside through the storefront windows. He could barely make out what was going on on the TV. Everyone inside was entranced by the show, even the ragged-looking barista. Wess sighed and continued marching forward. It took another few steps for him to realize the picture was becoming clearer the closer he got, he could even make out the captions. He checked around himself, made sure there was nobody around, and stuck his face up against the glass, where he would remain for the next half hour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Next week there won't be an update due to moving back into college for my senior year. If all things go right, we should be back with the tenth(!) episode the following week.
> 
> If you're enjoying so far, consider bookmarking the series to stay up-to-date or follow me on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/conceptofvan) for even more updates (and pictures of cute dogs)!
> 
> Cya next time!


	10. Vending Machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three idiots fight a vending machine.

A bell rang out across the small decaying school cafeteria. As always, most eyes in the room went to their phones or a clock on the wall to check whether said alarm was a fire or the ten minute warning. The school was too decrepit to have an intercom or bell system, so whenever it was time for a bell to ring, it was technically a ten-second fire drill; not that there was any fire station in a fifty mile radius waiting to rush to their aid, though.

A short-and-stout girl poked mercilessly at the slop that they tried to pass off as food. She told herself that this would finally be the semester she started to get up early to pack her own lunch, as she had said to herself for every other semester of high school. And middle school. And elementary school. 

The town was too small to justify separate schools, so they had crammed every student into one. The girl was used to this, passing by elementary schoolers on a daily basis. One would occasionally spit their tongue at her as they entered the school at a reasonable hour. She knew several people who would spit their tongue at the children who had to wait a few extra hours to leave as they made their own daily exit.

She wondered if she had a higher tolerance to bad food when she was their age, or if the food was actively getting worse each year.

The girl absent-mindedly glanced down at her brutalized mush to find it had become an old, withered face. “Really does look like that old hag,” the girl muttered to herself.

“Aurora, you and your friend are disqualified from auditions,” the mushy face said through the girl’s mouth, “We want our actors to go into auditions blind. If you did rehearsal on your own, then you have an unfair advantage.”

Aurora rolled her eyes and grunted before smacking a hand to her forehead and giving a soft, “Dammit.” The hand turned to a fist and knocked against her head several more times. “Dammit. Dammit! Dammit!” The herd slowly removing themselves from the cafeteria paid her no mind. That is, aside from a trio sitting a few tables away.

“Hey Wess,” a small boy with a gemstone necklace said, shrinking into himself a bit, “Is Aurora alright?”

The broad-shouldered boy beside him shrugged. “We can’t be part of the play this semester. At least not the roles we were rehearsing for.” He internally winced as he watched Aurora land another, albeit soft, hit on her cheek. Externally, he kept his stoic composure. “She’s taking it kind of harsh.”

“Yikes,” a tall-but-thin girl across from the two said, turning around to watch the smaller girl, “I don’t really like Aurora, but I don’t wanna see her like that.”

“Anna’s right,” the small boy said, holding balled hands to his chest, “We should do something. We probably can’t fix the audition situation, but we can at least make her feel better.”

“Ohhh,” Anna said, “Percy’s awfully excited.”

The faintest hint of red appeared on Percy’s cheeks. “I just like helping people and making them happy. That’s why I volunteer to entertain at the hospital.”

“Well I don’t think she’s too big a fan of magic tricks,” Wess said. He closed his eyes to think. “What would calm her down?” His eyes flashed open and he snapped his fingers. “I got it.”

Anna bounced in her seat. “What’d you get? Did you get me anything?”

Wess turned around in his seat and stood up, motioning for the other two to follow. “It’s easy. Let’s get her a chocolate bar from the vending machine.”

The tall girl frowned and crossed her arms, not budging from her spot. “Y’know Wess, just because a girl’s a little chubby doesn’t mean food would make her turn nice.”

“I’ve known Aurora since we were kids. If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what will with our resources.”

Anna gave a small grin and started moving. “Okay, I don’t entirely trust your reasoning but if you’re willing to see a bad idea through to the end, I’m willing to laugh as it blows up in your face.”

Percy sagged in his step. “I do not know if it will work -- I do not know Aurora well enough to -- but if Wess says it will, then I believe him.” Still, a small weight hang on his shoulders. Though, said weight wasn’t anything psychological, it just being Anna hugging him around his neck as they walked. He sighed, not wanting to raise a fuss, especially knowing she’d let go when they reached the vending machine near the cafeteria’s exit. Which they just did.

“It was my idea, so I’ll pay,” Wess said, pulling out his wallet.

Anna smiled smugly. “Wow, you’re really pulling out all the stops, aren’t you?”

“Oh shove off,” Wess laughed as he took out a dollar and put it into the machine. With a few button presses, the chocolate bar, near the middle of the machine’s selection, began to unlodge itself from its line-up of the same treat. And, finally, the machine did what all vending machines do and got the chocolate bar stuck between the metal spirals and the machine’s glass. Wess groaned and smacked a palm to his face. “Dammit.”

“That’s not good,” Percy said.

“No it’s not,” Anna said, “Luckily, I have the perfect solution right here.” She pulled her backpack off her back, unzipped one of its flaps, reached into it, and pulled out a hammer. She grinned. “See? Perfect.”

“What’s with you and hammers recently?” Wess asked.

Anna shrugged. “I just think they’re neat.” She grinned and drew the hammer behind her, preparing it for a throw to the glass. “Besides, I’m not hearing a no.”

“No, Anna,” Wess sighed.

Anna frowned, brought her hands to her sides, and annoyedly tossed the hammer behind her. “Aww, come on. We never use my ideas.”

“Because your ideas always involve property damage. We can get a candy bar without breaking anything.” He paused and remembered the group he was with. “Probably.”

Percy raised a hand. “I’ve got an idea.” The two turned to him. “What if we ordered this,” he pointed to a bag of chips above the stuck chocolate bar before dragging his finger down the glass, “And let it knock the chocolate down?”

“Makes sense,” Wess said. He once more pulled out his wallet, put a dollar in the machine, hit a few buttons, and watched as his selection got stuck between the metal spirals and the glass. His right eye twinged.

Percy put a hand to his chin. “Now that I think about it, there is probably a reason why nobody uses this thing.”

Anna raised an eyebrow. “How old is the candy in here then? That chocolate bar might already be melted.”

Wess sighed and pulled his pack off his back. “Well if going from above doesn’t work, maybe going from below will.” He reached into his bag, pulled out a small notebook, and bent down on a knee in front of the machine’s exit slot. “This way we don’t have to waste any more money or get sued.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

With a roll of his eyes, Wess pulled open the slot and shoved notebook-holding hand through it. He slowly scooched himself closer to the machine, angling himself closer to the ground so he could more easily send his arm upward. It got to the point where his head was resting on the vending machine as if it were a pillow and his arm had been completely eaten by the slot. Despite this, he was only about halfway up to the chocolate, even with the added length granted to him by the notebook.

There was a sudden  _ snap _ sound. Wess jerked in place, startled by the noise, and let the notebook fumble from his hold. His vision went black as the notebook slipped out of the machine onto his face and Anna said, “Sorry! I thought I had my phone on quiet.”

Percy turned to Anna. “Why are you taking a picture?”

She snapped another, not even bothering to turn the sound down. “I’m gonna put it on MyFace! It’s gonna get so many likes, even people out of town are gonna see it. Seriously Wess, you looked hilarious.” 

Percy laughed. “Well, it did kind of look like he was delivering a baby.”

Wess raised an eyebrow, though Anna ignored the statement. She turned to Percy. “Percy, you gotta get a MyFace so you can see it on your laptop.”

“You can just text it to me.”

Anna huffed. “I told you before, pics from any modern phone can’t be sent to your old flip. It just doesn’t have the same architecture.”

Wess groaned as he stood up. “That’s it,” he said, “I’m just gonna ram it and dislodge it that way.”

With a frown and huff, Anna said, “And yet you didn’t let me use my hammer.” A weight seemed to settle on her soul. “Do you just not like me?”

“Stop being such a drama queen. I’m not gonna break the thing, just shake the candy free.”

“So you’re saying shaking things is fair play?”

Wess opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “Why are you asking?”

“Answer me and I’ll answer you.” She gave a manic grin.

Wess sighed. “Sure. As long as it’s a machine.”

Her grin turned into a full blown smile as she wrapped her arms around her two friends. “Okay boys, tonight we hit the arcade in the city and get some high scores in pinball.”

“Fine, fine. But first--” He tugged Anna’s arm off of himself and motioned the two to move back. Anna backed up and pulled out her camera again, probably for blackmailing purposes. Percy didn’t budge. Wess glanced at the smaller boy. “C’mon Perce. I need room to build up speed.”

Percy huffed and shook his fists at his sides. “But it is dangerous! Vending machines kill more people per year than sharks do and it is because of things like this!”

Anna waved a hand in the air. “Oh come on, Percy. Everyone knows that sharks are the ocean’s deadliest creature. You don’t see any hit horror movies about vending machines terrifying beaches or summoning a tornado to rain them down upon the world, do you?” A spark lit up in her eyes as she reached into her bag again, this time procuring a notebook and paper. “Oh, I am so doing something with that idea.”

“Well, actually sharks kill less than one person a year,” Percy said, “Momma told me so when we used to live on the beach and I was too scared to go in the water. You have to watch out for jellyfish since they can get close enough to the beach to actually do harm.”

“Wait, then how many deaths do vending machines cause a year?” Wess asked.

“Four, I think?”

Wess sighed. “Percy, you worry too much. Everyone does this when their stuff gets stuck. You just have to be really unlucky or really stupid to get killed by a vending machine.”

Anna put a soft hand on Percy’s shoulder. “Yeah, Percy. Everything’s gonna be fine. Like Wess said, you just have to be unlucky.” She paused. “Though in this case, I think we should be more worried about the ‘really stupid’ part.”

Percy whimpered. Wess sighed.

“Okay everyone, gangway,” Wess said, backing up. In an instant he launched forward, right shoulder first, straight into the vending machine. He fell back onto the floor with the impact. He could only feel the pain in his shoulder as he fell and watched the machine sway in place.

Percy put his hands over his eyes.

Anna swiped on her phone. “Holy crap, Percy’s right. Sharks are a lot less dangerous than I thought.”

The chocolate bar and bag of chips fell to the machine’s dispenser slot. The machine stopped swaying, the movement being more of a running vibration than any actual threat to fall. Wess sighed and pulled out his prize. He stood up, brushed off the dust from the machine’s glass, and turned back to his friends. “See? Easy.”

Anna smiled. “Don’t get too cocky or the world’s gonna have it out for you.”

“Now c’mon. The five minute bell’s about to go off and we need to start back to class.” He lead his trio over to the girl who had buried her face in her hands, her sloppy dissection long since touched.

Aurora didn’t flinch at the sound of approaching footsteps, though did look up when she felt a tapping on her shoulder. Her glare screamed, “Get away from me unless you want to die,” for her mouth, which was currently lost in a deep frown.

“What the hell do you want?” Aurora asked, finding herself surrounded by the three.

Wess’s smile had diminished as he approached her and any tone other than mono had been abducted from his voice. “I noticed you hadn’t eaten any of that stuff, so I got you a candy bar.” He threw the chocolate on the table, closely followed by the bag of chips. “And some chips too, but that wasn’t part of the plan.”

Aurora narrowed her glare on the large boy. “Neither of these are gonna keep me satiated until school’s over. If you really cared, you woulda just shared some of your own lunch” She opened the chocolate and turned away. “Thanks.”

Wess smiled and turned away, Percy and Anna following suit.

Anna groaned. “All that and she’s still a bitch about it.”

“Don’t be so hard on her. You ever hear her say thank you before?”

The tall girl rolled her eyes as they approached the exit and passed the vending machine. “All I’m saying is that she could stand to be a bit nice-- Ah!”

The ground around them shook. The overhanging lights swung back and forth as the walls around them threatened to collapse. Percy shoved the shocked Wess and Anna aside as a loud  _ WHAMP _ shocked their souls from behind. The trio fell to the shaking ground, each grabbing onto the other for some sort of stability.

Eventually, the shaking stopped.

Percy breathed shallow breaths. “Whit th’ heck?”

Anna got on her knee, though didn’t have enough stability to stand up fully. “An earthquake? But we don’t live near any major fault lines.”

Wess stayed on the ground, looking at the cafeteria’s entrance. “A-- Anna,” he said, looking at the fallen vending machine blocking them from the cafeteria, “What were you saying about the world being out to get me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Number ten! A new location that I'm already thinking of not using anymore!
> 
> Next week, Percy and Anna go bunnny hunting in a different new location.
> 
> Cya then.


	11. The Prish Paradox

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to make of change of plans from the bunny story I advertised last week. A friend's bunny passed the day after posting and it didn't feel right to write a story focused on the animal. I still plan to do it, but it will be a few weeks. Instead, enjoy this.

The ring of a service bell echoed through Cornerstone Cafe, though nobody inside seemed to pay it any mind. Not the broad-shouldered boy tapping on his phone as he sat in a booth. Not the ragged-looking barista drinking from a mug as he sat near the cafe’s back, presumably on his lunch break but actually just ignoring work. The girl who perfected the description of plain and average wasn’t even noticed by the small boy in a green apron she frantically rang the bell in front of. The boy, Percy, if his nametag was to be believed, was busy staring at the broad-shouldered boy in an unquestionable daze.

“Percy!” The forgotten girl cried. Percy blinked, the girl groaned. “Come on, I want to give you money. Talking to me can only benefit you!” Still, the small boy did not move.

She sighed and turned around to the broad-shouldered boy. If the one friend she actually had were here it would be easier, but nobody ever seemed to notice her when she was alone. So now she had to go and make awkward small-talk with a boy she barely knew just for the sake of coffee.

The broad-shouldered boy glanced up as the plain girl slid opposite him, though he quickly looked back down to his phone. The girl groaned.

“Come on,” she said, “You’re Wess, right? Notice me!” She banged her fists on the table, which earned another glance up at her.

“Who the hell are you?” Wess said, glaring.

“I’m Prish. Anna’s friend.”

“Me and Percy are Anna’s only friends.”

Prish rolled her eyes. “We’re in the same class.” Wess shrugged. “I was with everyone when we got snowed in the cafe a few days ago!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Nevermind,” Prish sighed, “But you can see me, right?”

“Yeah, and?” Wess began to lower his focus down to his phone. However, the phone was smacked out of his hands and sent flying to the table.

“Don’t! Any time someone looks away from me, they forget I exist!” Prish nearly burst into tears. “I’m frequently counted absent even when I sit in the front row! I’m barely ever able to get food at restaurants when I go alone. My parents gave my room to my little sister so I have to sleep on the couch!” She reached across the table and shook Wess by the shoulders. “Please don’t look away!”

Wess glared. “Well maybe nobody notices you because you’re a ghost. What do you want me to do about it?”

There was a silence. Wess groaned internally as he watched Prish’s eyes go wide and her mouth go wider. She touched a quivering hand to her face. “A ghost? Am I?”

Wess groaned. “Don’t take my sarcasm seriously.”

A finger pointed at the boy. “Oh, but it all makes sense! Dogs always get barky at me and automatic doors never open if I’m alone.” She put the finger to her chin. “But then why can you see me?”

“Maybe I killed you and you bothering me like this is your ghostly revenge.”

She gasped. “You did it!” She banged a hand on the table. “You killed me!”

“Stop taking my sarcasm seriously! I don’t even know you, when the hell would I have killed you?” He sighed. “How would you have died, anyway?”

Prish frowned. “I dunno. Maybe I died in that fire a few years ago.”

“You were in a fire?”

She shrugged. “One or two. Y’know, the local arsonist. I’m just kinda unlucky, I guess.”

Wess’s face sagged as he shot her a look. “Are you sure the arsonist isn’t targeting you?”

“Oh heck no, they’ve actually been pretty helpful to me. I actually thought they were gone since they haven’t struck in a year or two, but then some creepy old guy who tried sexting me got his house burned down.” She closed her eyes and smiled. “I need to thank them if I ever meet ‘em.”

Wess glanced around him, looking for something to change the subject. “R-- Right. Anyway,” he said, having found nothing, “You were just hitting the table a second ago and it was shaking. You can touch things and effect them, you’re not a ghost.”

“Well,” she tilted her head, “I don’t remember opening the door to come in. Maybe I phased through the wall.”

“It’s one of those mundane things. You did it without noticing.”

Prish closed her eyes, gave a soft, “Hmm,” and opened them again. “Wess,” she said, “Feel me.”

Wess’s eyes shot open. “Wh-- What?”

“I need you to touch me.”

“Why?”

She huffed, as if it were obvious. “I go by unnoticed by everyone every day normally. If I focus on disappearing, maybe your hand would phase through me.”

“No,” Wess said, “I’m not touching you. You’re not a ghost.”

“Oh, come on!” She smacked her hands on the table. “If you don’t, I’m gonna haunt you forever!”

“People would notice you following me around everywhere and call you weird.”

Prish gave a thumbs-up. “I’d like people to notice me!” Her happy smile squirmed off her face as a glare was shot at her.

Wess took in a deep breath and gave an even deeper sigh. “Fine,” he said, “But just make it fast. I don’t want anyone calling me a creep.”

Prish smiled and leaned forward.

“Don’t look so happy about it.”

Prish frowned and leaned further.

Wess cautiously outstretched his hand toward Prish’s bent-over head. He hesitated above it for a second, before finally bringing it down to terra-firma, or, in this case, Prish’s hair.

“Wess,” a voice sounded from his right, “What are you doing?” The large boy turned to find a shorter boy behind the counter, kneading the bottom of his green apron. “Who is she?”

The larger boy glared to the ceiling-tile heavens. He retracted his hand, picked up his phone, and returned his glare to it. He looked up, now wearing a curious look. “I don’t know,” he said, shrugged, and looked back at his phone.

Percy sighed and settled back into his willing distraction. There was some faint concern in his mind over his crush suddenly having a girlfriend, but he chalked it up to his ever-present nerves.

Wess glanced back up to Prish. She smiled lustfully, thought the smile was directed at herself. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if he should try and help her get over her whole unnoticed by everyone issue. In the present, though, he was just happy to not have to deal with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thanks for reading!
> 
> If you're enjoying so far, consider bookmarking the series to stay up-to-date or follow me on Twitter for even more updates and non-AGA stories.
> 
> Cya next time!


	12. Crosswalk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How did the idiots cross the street? To get to the other side!
> 
> Wait...

 

The ding of a bell rang out at the intersection of Log Street and Daze Street. This, however, went unnoticed by a tall-but-thin girl and a small boy with a gemstone necklace as they approached the intersection. The broad-shouldered boy that walked with them watched the ground, careful to not step on the chalk drawings left on the sidewalk by a pair of children who were busy trying to draw on one of the cars parked on the curb.

The broad-shouldered boy glanced to his friends as they walked into the street. “Wh-- Hey!” he shouted. The two glanced back at the large boy as he jumped out to the street, grabbed them by the backs of their jackets, and yanked them back to the curb. They looked at him with dazed eyes as they became acquainted with the spinning world. “Guys, we’re not in town right now; the roads actually mean something here. Didn’t you hear the bell? The bell means it’s not safe to walk.” He pointed to the other end of the road, where a white stick figure hung above an illuminated red cross.

“Oh,” the small boy said, tugging on his necklace, “I looked both ways and did not see anyone coming, though.”

The taller boy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Seriously, Percy? You looked both ways but didn’t see the big, bright cross over there?”

Percy whimpered. 

The tall girl sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and tried to match the taller boy’s glare. “Seriously, Wess? You say it as ‘cross’?”

Wess, closely followed by the taller girl, sighed even deeper. “Not now, Anna.”

“Yes now! Now is all we have!”

“Hey guys,” Percy said. The two turned to him and followed his gaze to the barren street. There was a pure silence for a second, Percy waiting for one of the two to ask, ‘What?’ though neither of them did. After another second of the two waiting in the silence of the world, Percy finally continued, “Nobody is coming. We can probably just walk across now and be fine.”

Anna frowned. “Jaywalking? But that’s against the law.” Percy and Wess glanced at each other and then at her. “I mean, I’m down with breaking the law, but I’m surprised Percy is.”

“It is just jaywalking.”

“Yeah, but the Percy I know would faint at the thought of breaking the law!” She gasped, rushed over to the small boy, and shook him like you would a baby if you were a terrible parent. “Are you an impercynator? What’ve you done to my Percy!”

“Since when was Percy yours,” Wess asked.

“We talked about this last week,” Anna said, still clutching Percy, “I get Percy on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You get him Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and Sunday alternates by the week. If you want to change it, go talk to the judge, but I’m happy the way it is!”

“Do I get a say in this,” Percy asked.

Anna shrugged. “Fine, Percy. You can have Percy on Sundays, but first you have to tell us where Percy is!”

Wess rolled his eyes. Another bell rang out through the street, forcing his rolling eyes to come to a stop. “Finally,” he said, stepping onto the street and looking back to Percy and Anna, “C’mon guys, it’s good!”

Wess smiled as Percy and Anna gasped. Percy leapt out into the street and rushed in front of Wess, grabbed onto Wess’s shirt through his open jacket, and pushed him back onto the curb as an old green sedan whizzed past him to the right. Percy thudded to the sidewalk and gasped for air.

Anna kneeled down and prodded the fallen boy with a finger. “Is this from exhaustion or is he having a panic attack?”

Wess glared at the cars as they drove by. If the currently lit-up stickboy practiced what he preached, he’d be roadkill by now. “What the hell is this about?” Wess shouted at the road, which did not reply. “It’s supposed to be good for us to go!”

A small “Hmm,” came from Anna as she stood up and looked to the street. Another car whizzed to her right as she stepped under the pole the stoplight hung from and leaned ever so slightly out into the street. She looked up and put a hand to her chin before returning to the curb and walking back to Wess.

“I think I know what’s going on,” Anna said. She then turned around to the child vandals, slammed her fist on the hood of the car they drew on, and shouted, “Scram!”

The girl’s eyes went wide open as she dropped her chalk onto the car and ran. The boy of the duo did the same, though he tripped over Percy before picking himself up and following after the girl. Anna smiled. “Do you think they were siblings or friends,” she asked as she picked up a piece of chalk that rolled down the car’s hood.

“They escaped time out together and are on the run from the law,” Wess deadpanned. “So why the hell do you need chalk?”

“To think,” she grunted as she took a hair tie off her wrist and tied her hair into a ponytail so long it should be called a horsetail. The tall girl kneeled to the clean sidewalk next to the car and began writing on it. “I don’t get what those kids were thinking. You can’t draw on cars with chalk, the most fun you can have with chalk and someone else’s car is breaking the windows.” She finished writing and turned to Wess and Percy, who had picked himself back up. “There.”

Wess and Percy stared at the series of lines containing things like brackets and braces and words not separated using spaces.

“What is it?” Percy asked.

“Oh come on, Percy,” Anna whined, “It’s just a simple code for an automated light switch running on a closed circuit.” She laughed condescendingly. “What? Do you need me to draw a diagram for you?”

“I don’t think either of us would get it, even with a diagram,” Wess said.

Anna crossed her arms and huffed out a cloud of cold air. “Fine, I’ll just have to explain it then.” She pointed across the street to the crosswalk light telling them to walk into oncoming traffic, “That sign comes on,” she pointed to the back of the stoplight she stood under a minute ago, “When that light tells people to drive.” She tapped the chalk back to her writing. “The intersection’s crosswalk lights and the stoplights work on two circuits that are closed off from any other stoplight systems around the city. Something must of screwed up the circuitry and now they both say ‘go’ at the same time. When it’s green for us, it’s green for them to run us over.”

Wess glared at the girl. “Why didn’t you just say that last sentence first?”

Anna stood up and smiled, cocking her head slightly to her left. “Because I never get to screw with you guys by being smart. I gotta put all these lessons mom and dad put me in to good use once in awhile.” Another ding rang out from across the street as the crosswalk light switched to the cross. “See? Now we’re good to go.”

The girl closed her eyes and placed a foot on the crosswalk, quickly to be greeted by the rush of a car as it raced to her right. She found herself short of breath as she stumbled back onto the curb and onto the ground. Wess reached out a hand to help her up, though she swatted it away and growled at the street. “What the heck? I'm always right!”

“Well,” Percy said, “You probably were right. Though, people just run red lights sometimes. Back when I lived in a city, people would do it all the time.”

Anna picked herself up and groaned. “Well then city slicker, how about we see your idea on how to cross no man's land?”

Percy took a step up to the street, though he didn’t dare to put a foot on the pavement. The crosswalk light rang again and tempted him to cross, though he knew better by this point. Slowly, he turned his eyes to the left and listened closely. He let out a breath and turned around to the other two. “Okay, we should be good.” Once more, he turned around and put a foot on the pavement, only to be met with the inch-away view of a silver-white mustang rushing to his left. He gasped and jumped back, though he was caught in the waiting arms of Anna and Wess.

“I had a feeling whatever you were doing wasn’t gonna work,” Anna said through clenched teeth, “But that guy was driving down the wrong side of the road!”

“Maybe he was British,” Percy said. He let himself go from his friend’s embrace. “Besides, it is partly my fault. I forgot an important step.”

Again, Percy approached the street. Again, he turned to the left and listened to the silence. This time, however, he turned to the right and did the same. He smiled, stepped back to the two, and proudly proclaimed, “Okay, this time we should actually be good.” He approached the road, gave another, quicker, glance left and right, and blitzed over to the other side of the street.

On the opposite sidewalk, Percy took a deep breath as he slowed to a stop. Anna and Wess quickly appeared behind him and followed suit in his breathing exercise.

“Holy crap, Perce,” Wess said, giving his small friend a hard pat on the back, “Whatever you were doin’ actually worked. What were you looking for back there, anyway?”

“Cars,” Percy shrugged, “I just looked both ways before crossing the street.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading so far!
> 
> Next time we introduce two characters, one of who will become a primary character like Aurora, though later.


	13. Fun and Prophet

The ding of a recorded bell rang out from a large monitor as it turned on. A trio of a tall-but-thin girl, a broad-shouldered boy, and a small boy with a gemstone necklace had stopped as they approached it and, in sync, tilted their heads in curiosity. While none of them voiced their thoughts, they were all some variant of ‘There used to be a map there’. The small boy smiled, the larger boy frowned, and the tall girl put a hand to her chin.

A woman appeared on the monitor, though the view of her was partly blocked off by the plant bed at the bottom of the setup and the vine-looking plastic that hung from the top. The girl wore a red suit with the words ‘Free Roam’ sewn in yellow on the suit’s left breast and a smile stapled to her face. “Welcome to Free Roam Mall,” the woman said, “Here you will find--”

The video abruptly cut to a blue error screen. The small boy joined his larger friend in a frown.

“Aww,” the small boy pouted, “Why are things breaking so much today?” He turned to his tall friend. “Do you have any idea, Anna?”

Anna shook her head. “The way things are acting, it’s like the entire city’s on the fritz. I can’t think of anything that would cause something like that, though.” She closed her eyes for a second before shaking it again. She turned to the large boy. “Well, we turned to the best, so let’s try the rest. You got any idea, Wess?”

Wess shrugged. “Citywide electronic maintenance?”

Anna put on a dumb smile and made her voice one of mocking stupidity. “Ah yes, let’s tamper with running electricity. It is me, the engineer that controls the electricity of the entire city all at once.”

Wess rolled his eyes.

Percy shrunk down a little. “Maybe it is just bad luck.”

“Eh,” Anna said, “Makes more sense that what Wess was sayin’.”

“Oh shut up,” Wess said. He pushed the two forward and around the sign, into the mall’s food court.

Free Roam Mall was in an ‘X’ shape, with the main entrances being stuck on the four middle indents. This was terrible design so most people came in through the larger shops. Percy, Anna, and Wess, however, were hungry, so they headed for the mall’s center where the food court was. It was a two-story building, which was pointless as half the shops were vacant anyway. Wess’s father had once told him the place has been on life support since it opened.

The trio set themselves down at a random table on the outskirts of the sea of seats.

“Do you guys remember where the salad shop was?” asked Percy.

“I dunno, I just hope the pizza stand is open,” Wess said.

“Destroy the demons of your soul! Accept God and become whole,” chanted a chorus next to a noodle shop.

“Become one with the Earth! Ground yourself in soil and expand your,” a group of three girls chanted from the other side of the food court, though they stumbled as they tried to come up with a rhyme, “Girth?”

“Do they have bell peppers as toppings,” asked Anna.

Percy blinked. “Wait.” He turned backwards in his seat to find a group of people holding signs saying ‘Repent or Die!’, ‘Reap What You Sow’, and ‘When you think about it, these signs really contradict each other. Like, repenting clears up your bad past, but reap what you sow implies you’ll get what you had coming for your past anyway. Besides, how does repenting prevent dying?’ The last one, however, was too small to be read by the trio and was held by someone being angrily pushed out of the group. The boy was dressed in a hoodie, so it would have been hard to mistake him as part of the group anyway. The actual group was composed of bored children who were obviously dragged there, parents who were way too into it, and a high-school boy who was also way too into it. The entire group wore their Sunday best, despite it being Wednesday.

“Religious protestors?” Wess asked. “It’s always the crazy ones doing shit like this.”

“What are they protesting?” Percy stared at them before beginning to tremble. “Please don’t be gay people. Please don’t be gay people. Please don’t be gay people,” he mumbled, brining his legs to his chest.

“Maybe they’re trying to free Roam,” Anna said. She then noticed Percy turning into a literal ball of stress. “Okay, I’m gonna go check and see if we should call mall security or the cops or something. Maybe they’ll have a pamphlet or somethin’.” She picked herself up and threw herself out of the table before trodding along toward the group.

Percy continued to shake, though he did seem to be aware as Wess put a hand softly on his back. “Don’t worry, buddy. Everything’s fine. We can just leave if we need to.”

A minute passed. And then another. Wess looked around the food court, trying to find Anna. So much time had passed that there were two possibilities in Wess’s mind: she was either using the bathroom or had joined the group because chanting was fun.

“Hey guys,” Anna said, cutting through Wess’s thoughts. The large boy looked up to find Anna carrying along a thin boy with a cross necklace and a slice of pizza with some sort of topping.

Wess pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Anna,” he said, “What is that?”

Anna smiled. “A bell pepper pizza.”

“I meant the guy!”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Well you seem to know what it is, so why are you asking me?”

The thin boy smiled. He wasn’t too tall, though Wess had to make a guess he was a year or two younger than them. Probably a high school freshman. Percy didn’t react.

Wess closed his eyes and sighed even harder. “Anna, I’m gonna count to ten. When I reach ten, you better be putting him back where you found him.” His eyes shot into a glare forward, though now all he saw was the religious boy sitting opposite him. He could feel something move behind him.

“Look at him,” Anna whispered as Adam prodded the despondent Percy, “He’s almost our age and he’s already chanting nonsense. We gotta do something, right?”

“I don’t see how it’s our problem.”

“Oh come on,” she crouched down a little and poked him in the nose, “Besides, isn’t it our job as his-- what’s the word for underclassmen in your animes? Seniles?”

Wess’s glare harshened. “I don’t watch anime. Besides, the word you’re looking for is ‘senpai’.” He paused. His frown turned from one of anger to one of grief. “Dammit.”

Anna smiled and returned her attention to the younger boy. “So, what’s your group doing here today, uh--”

“I’m Adam,” said Adam.

Wess raised an eyebrow. “Is that your real name or are you screwing with us?”

Anna gave Wess a light hit with her hand before turning back to Adam. “Right. And your church is here for?”

Adam’s smile widened. It was a simple smile; a pure one. “Conversion therapy!”

A loud bang resounded as something fell to the floor. Specifically, Percy’s collapsed corpse.

Anna’s smile dropped. “Okay, yeah. Bad idea to do this now.” She used her right foot to kick her left leg. “Worst idea I’ve ever had.”

“Adam,” a voice called from the greater group, “It’s spiritual counseling. Get it right!”

Adam frowned and pouted. “It means the same thing.”

Wess made a similar, though noticeably angrier, face. “No. No it doesn’t.” He stood back up and walked around to Percy’s fainted self. “C’mon Anna, let’s go back home.”

Anna joined beside him as he bent down to lift Percy back to his feet, or at least give her and Wess good leverage to shoulder him under over their arms. Another set of hands joined in at Percy’s feet, disrupting the balance. Wess and Anna looked back up to find Adam, a smile still plastered to his face. “So we’re bringing him to be converted, right?”

“No,” Anna frowned. “Go away.”

Adam shook his head.

“You got anything better than ‘go away’,” Wess asked.

Anna sighed and let go of Percy. She took off her backpack and pulled it in front of her. It took a minute of shuffling through its overpacked contents, but she eventually produced a cartoonish Satan mask and held it in front of her face. She glared at the boy through the eyeholes and let in a long breath, never breaking eye contact with the boy. She seemed to growl as her voice dropped to say, “Go away.”

Adam shook his head.

Anna tossed the mask behind her. “Well I’m out of ideas that won’t get us sued.” She glanced back to the table. “Actually, I’m not.” She turned back to Adam and looked down on him. “I’ll give you that slice of pizza if you go away.”

“Not until you’ve converted!”

Wess rolled his eyes and turned his voice to mock deadpan, one of his favorite settings. “But we’re already Christian.”

“Yep,” Anna said, not being one to miss a beat. “People say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I know Jesus is the most important meal of the week.”

“You mean, like, food for the soul?”

“I mean the bread.”

The boy smiled like a puppy whose owner had been gone for five minutes. “Which church do you go to? What time is your service? How many sermons do you attend a week?”

Wess coughed into a balled hand. “I meant we used to be. We converted.”

Adam smile dropped and his gaze turned to Wess. The larger boy could feel his very soul being stabbed by the gaze. Adam’s voice turned to a screech to pierce the heavens themselves. “You turned your back to the grace of God?” He slammed his hands on the plastic table. “We need to bring you back to the light! Let’s get this emergency conversion therapy rolling!”

Wess rolled his eyes while Anna glared at him.

“Come on, Wess,” Anna said, any hint of joy gone from her voice, “Sorry I brought him. Let’s get Percy outta here.”

Wess nodded and crouched back down to lift Percy up.

Anna tried to shove a hand under the boy to lift him up, but was interrupted by a delicate hand on her shoulder.

A tanned girl that smelled of soil had appeared behind Anna. Anna wasn’t exactly sure when, or even how, the girl snuck up on her, as the scent of earth flowing from her was too powerful to ignore. She didn’t know how the girl hadn’t froze to death either, considering she just seemed to be wearing a sundress and flip flops while outside it was flurrying.

“I shall take this handle,” the tanned girl said. It was some sort of accent, but neither Wess or Anna could figure out what kind it was.

Adam pouted as the tanned girl stood up and faced him. “Selene! No! These people’s souls need to be saved!”

“Ah, but,” Selene said, “The Mother Gaia has claimed souls of three these.” She held out a finger and wagged it back and forth before pointing it to the fainted Percy. “Aside, he our prophet has become.”

Anna slinked back to Wess, leaving Percy for dead. He whispered to her, “What is up with that speech pattern? Where the hell is she from?”

Selene hopped in place, turning to the two, and proudly proclaimed, “I am from the Idaho!”

Wess gave her a questioning look. “How did you hear us?”

“Mother Gaia does the hearing of all,” Selene said with a smile pure enough to bring the world to harmony, “I am simply a messenger of the Mother Gaia and her gift of the beauty.” Wess’s questionful look didn’t change as Selene threw her face in front of Wess’s and glared into his soul. “Mother Gaia.”

Wess backed up. “Y-- Yeah. Mother Gaia. We get it.”

The earthly girl leaned back to standing and smiling. “And the Mother Gaia would be happy to have her messenger to do the helping of you and her prophet.”

Anna looked at the girl. “What do you mean, ‘the prophet’?”

“The Percy is the prophet. No?” She tilted her head at Anna.

Wess shook his head. “Percy grew up in Florida. That’s like the unholiest place I can think of. We’ve never even heard of whatever your religion is.”

“Naturalism.”

“Isn’t that another word for nudism?”

Selene put a hand to her mouth as she gasped. “Not, of course! The Naturalism is knowing the things made of the man are evil. Only Mother Gaia’s creations shall be the pure of Earth!” She frowned at Anna and picked up a discarded milkshake from a nearby table and took a sip.

Wess didn’t even bother to give a sarcastic reply and instead returned to lifting Percy, getting him over his arm. “Right. Well, we better be going.”

“No!” Adam pouted at the two. He stepped in front of Anna and blocked her way to helping lift Percy. “Father Dad needs my help to get more believers! You three must see the light! Conversion therapy!”

“Stop calling it that,” a voice from the group of protestors called.

“I do have the knowing of our agreement, but that will not the simply do,” Selene said, pushing Adam away and putting herself under Percy’s free arm, “For the Percy is our prophet.”

Anna dragged Selene away from her fallen friend. “What agreement?”

“We have done the agreeing to not be doing talk to those the group of others has taken.”

“So, this is a regular thing for you two,” Wess sighed, “And how exactly would you know he is your prophet? Wouldn’t you need a prophet to tell you that?”

Selene smiled and pointed to the two high-school girls that remained together near the western exit. “Priestess Samantha has done the telling to me. The Mother Gaia has also so done.”

Adam stomped his foot. “But Dad--”

“Your father not can outsay Mother Gaia.”

“But their souls need the light!”

“The light of the hope will not be found through the you.”

Wess groaned as Anna picked up Percy’s limping side over her shoulder. “Look at these idiots,” he said, “Think we can slip out while they’re arguing?”

Selene’s head snapped to them. “Of course the not,” she shouted, “For the Mother Gaia does the hearing--”

“And you’re the messenger of Mother Gaia. We get it.”

Adam slammed his hands on the table. “Okay, let’s just decide this here and now! Do you want to see the light or will you let your souls be dragged to hell by the devil?”

“We’d rather just leave,” Wess said, “Is purgatory an option?”

“No doing the leave,” Selene shouted, “Instead, be doing the choose!”

“Fine then.”

Wess looked to Anna and Anna looked to Wess. Wess blinked; Anna too. “Selene,” they said in unison.

Adam’s face dropped. “Wah-- Bu-- But-- Her lord is the devil! The one who dwells in hell under the Earth! A heathen like the miners and deep-sea divers, trying to find hell!”

“She’s not the one threatening to torture people, though,” Wess said.

Adam sniffled. “I never threatened anyone. Why does everyone keep saying I’m doing that? I just want everyone to live in harmony under God!”

Despite herself, Anna reached a free hand to Adam’s shoulder. “Maybe work on your word choice if you don’t want people thinking you’re the bad guy, then.”

Adam stopped his small sob. He looked up at Anna with a smile that was more than a little drunken. “You can still be saved,” he said. The thin boy turned around and skipped back to the larger group of protestors. A foot away from the protestors, he turned back and waved, “I’ll see to it that your souls will see the light!”

Wess frowned and turned back to Anna. “Well, at least he’s gone.”

“Yes, and I am not,” Selene smiled. She held out a hand. “Now then, may I have the prophet?”

Anna shook her head. “Nope. The prophet needs to get home and get his divine blessings.”

Selene still held her smile. “Then may I have the wallet of prophet?”

“Wait, hold on,” Wess saaid, “Do you mean prophet in a religious way, or profit in a cash way?”

“Priestess Samantha has not done the telling of either, but the Mother Gaia has conveyed either is a good doing.”

“Seriously?”

“A messenger of the Mother Gaia needs to be doing the eating and the sleeping. No?”

Anna looked to Wess, though he only shrugged. “Well,” she said, “Then we have a problem. We came to the mall but, ah-haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa we forgot cash.”

Selene’s smile refused to drop. She pulled out her phone, with some sort of clip connected to it. “Fear not! We are also accepting of the card!”

Wess turned to Anna. “Seriously, that’s the best you had? You're usually a better liar than that. What the hell was that laugh, anyway?”

Anna pouted. “Well excuse me for trying. Gimme a break, I’m not used to playing the straight man.”

“Ahem!” Selene shouted, “Pay the attention to the me, please! Or just pay the money to the me!”

“How about this,” Wess said, “Percy here’s not feeling the best. Why don’t we let him rest up and then he can see your religion?”

Selene closed her eyes and frowned before opening them and smiling again. “The Mother Gaia is pleased with this decision.”

“So we can leave and you won’t stalk us or anything,” Anna asked.

Selene nodded, though Wess, Anna, and Percy were gone before it was clear she was.

“We can never come back here again,” Wess said as the two hurried to the exit.

“Agreed,” said Anna.

Percy’s eyes blinked open as they crossed the threshold outside. “Guys,” he groggily said, “What happened?”

Wess didn’t even bother to put him down, instead just hurrying the trio away. “Everything’s fine. You joined a cult. Everything’s fine.”

Percy yawned. “Oh.” He paused, thinking. “Well, at least it is not Christianity.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading this far!
> 
> AGA is gonna be going on hiatus for the month of October, as I'm going to be doing OCtember prompts on here and deviantArt. Check it out if you have a chance.


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